Morongobill's Backporch

Turn out the lights, the party's over

2018-07-22T07:57:00.000-07:00

Last post here at the Google platform. The blog may be back over at Wordpress
in a while. Enjoyed doing this but no longer feel like messing around with Google's software issues.

Fellow bloggers, thanks for linking to this blog.

The latest dirt on Nipton and American Green

2018-07-14T06:57:00.002-07:00

As most of my readers know, the tiny town of Nipton was sold about a year ago with the new owners, a small cannabis company named American Green, pledging to make it a world class marijuana themed destination. They announced some really big plans and proceeded to implement them.

So how has that worked out?

As you may know, I visited the town during the renovations and observed the progress, even toured the hotel with an American Green V.P. as my guide. I was impressed with the progress and noticed just how friendly everybody was.

Unfortunately in all the planning, somebody at AG forgot to talk with the folks running San Bernardino County- whose ordinances forbid the growing and selling of marijuana and its products in
unincorporated parts of the county- so there went the marijuana themed resort aspect.

Note. I am a participant on the IHUB American Green stock forum and in addition to providing due diligence to the forum, have received it via others also. And the due diligence is bad news for the folks at AG, and investors in this penny stock.

It has come to investors attention that the project manager for AG's Nipton, Stephen Shearin, has been let go or resigned, and it happened about 2 months ago. Interestingly, American Green has neither confirmed nor denied this, nor have they put out a press release on this material event.

Of course, rumors abound on the forum including ones about the recent news that American Green has sold Nipton to another penny stock firm, Delta Oil and Gas Inc, with a provision that AG continue running it for the next few years. Rumor is that this stock transaction between two firms with virtually no assets or income but plenty of debts, might have come to the attention of the SEC and other government financial regulators, thus leading to the need of a "fall guy."

So who knows, the folks on the forum may be right. Things may be about to take a turn for the worse at AG. A lot worse. But enough about the stock. Let's talk about the town and the nearby area.

Nipton is located at the north end of the Ivanpah Valley- just a few miles from the Ivanpah solar facility. It has an aquifer running under it. You may have heard that American Green, along with another small penny stock firm, planned on building a CBD water bottling plant in the town. Well in my opinion, based on my analysis of the current situation and the players involved, that is just a pipe dream and the bottling plant will not be built. You see I know something about AG, their record is one of huge promises made and virtually nothing delivered. In fact, their revenue is derived mainly from sale of their common stock. This is done by a process where they get cash from lenders or other rich individuals and issue what is called convertible debentures, at a discounted price, which the lender then converts into shares of stock which they sell to the market. In addition, they get paid interest under certain conditions. They make out like bandits, with the rubes(normal shareholders) seeing their shares diluted and reduced in value.

You may say how can that be legal? I don't know if it is or isn't, all I know is that they have been doing this their whole 19 years in business, and the SEC hasn't shut them down yet!

So what I am saying is the main damage to come to the Ivanpah Valley most likely will not be done by American Green, the crowd that can't shoot straight.

Morongobill

Saying goodbye to an old photographic friend

2018-07-04T09:57:00.002-07:00

The offer has been withdrawn due to lack of interest. It will be put in my storage until I figure out what to do with it.

LDrove up to Joshua Tree a few days ago to drop off the camera at the office of an
environmental organization, sign on the door said call to make appointment, though packages could be left be at storage office couple doors down. Kept the camera and left the area to visit a casino, quite sure it would be open 😎
Back in early 2005, I picked up a Nikon D70, my first interchangeable lens digital single lens reflex camera. Prior to this, I shot film and also had a couple of Olympus digital slr's, minus the interchangeable lenses.

This camera was not bad in its day, 6.1 megapixels and known for good color rendition. The 18-70 G zoom is equivalent to a 27-105 and is one of the better kit lenses available. It still takes good photos today!

After 13 years, I finally replaced it with another Nikon, the full frame D750, which unlike the D70, has video capability. The plan is to use it for landscape and other photography still shooting- but not
for bighorn sheep. That task will still be handled my my Nikon P510 ultra zoom.

I have to choose between tossing this into my storage unit, selling it for pennies on the dollar or
donating it to someone or an organization that does nature type photography. ~~My preference is that it~~
~~go to someone that cares about the desert(nature.)~~

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this camera. It comes with everything in the photo below as well as the original box. Interested parties please email me with some details about yourself and if applicable the organization you are with.

~~My preference also is for you to pick it up here in socal as I am unable to ship this out- it is possible that I might be able to drop it off if you are fairly close.~~

Here is my email:

morongobill@gmail.com

I have offered this to one party and haven't heard back yet, so I will wait a few more days for a response from them before letting this go.

By the way, here is my new camera alongside the D70.

Once this camera has its new owner, I will give an immediate update here on the blog!

Morongobill

Ads, trackers, cookies etc, European Union actions against them

2018-05-31T08:09:00.001-07:00

You probably have been getting notifications from Google and Amazon etc about how their policies are being changed to comply with the new EU regs, regarding privacy.

I know I am since I have this blog.

Notice there are no ads on this site. No Google ads at all. No Amazon ads but ~~there is a link to my ebook. As far as I know, there is no tracker for that.~~

I have also removed the bloglist of places I visit as a reader could be exposed to various trackers etc on those sites possibly. Hopefully these changes will satisfy the EU and others.

My advice if you are worried about your privacy is to use a browser such as Opera( I use it on my laptop and Brave on my cell and tablet.) These browsers actively block ads and trackers and are free.

First video editing attempt of a recent hike, plus 4 videos from channels that I follow

2018-03-10T07:57:00.000-08:00

I believe that I have written here about a few outdoorsy time Youtube channels that I follow. These individuals put out interesting quality videos that make you want to drop what you are doing and head out to the woods, or the desert in my case. They all put a lot of time into their video productions, from video setup to editing. From my one video attempt, I finally understand just how time consuming it is.

Here are four videos from the main channels I follow, which showcase each person's style and methods. Relax, each will be under 10 minutes and you will enjoy watching them, I believe. More information will be available at their channels, if you would like to subscribe or just want more information.

First up is a video from Erik Normark who lives in Sweden. I am one of his patrons at Patreon.

Next is a video from Primal Outdoors. Jason Darrah primarily films in his home state, Oregon.

Here is another channel set in Scandinavia, in this case, Norway. I recently subscribed to this one.

Last up is Ken Kramme, a master naturalist in Texas and a superb videographer. This is a 7 year old video and one of his first on the channel. This was the first video of his that I watched. Absolutely fantastic video.

Now here is my video from a hike a few days ago. This is kindergarten grade compared to the films above- I know my limitations but hope you will watch it anyway! Unfortunately I forgot my new lapel microphone for use with my cell, and there is no way to get rid of the wind noise when I filmed with my Nikon ultrazoom. My apologies.

The best explanation so far for the Washington political antics, re: special counsel, Russia collusion etc

2018-01-22T07:57:00.002-08:00

From a longtime former federal prosecutor and independent counsel.

Well worth a viewing(or listen) while you do your surfing.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-21/brazen-plot-exonerate-hillary-clinton-and-frame-trump-unraveling-says-former-fed

A little hiking, ridge line walking and sand skiing the other day

2018-01-21T08:34:00.001-08:00

Thursday I woke up feeling ambitious as well as also sick and tired of not doing anything physical. So I decided to head out to the Palm Springs windmill area and test myself against the ridge again.
My bout with the flu or severe cold behind me, it was time to get out and breathe some clean air and feel a little sunshine on my formerly sick body.

Once I arrived and got my gear, I crossed the double railroad tracks, after waiting for a freight train to pass. At that moment, a plan started coming together but first I needed to get moving, trusting that it would make itself known to me as I hiked.

A walk to the "oasis" would not require any real uphill climbing but that was out, I needed the exercise. So I thought crossing over the ridge line and hiking back from the other side would be fun. I ended up deciding to travel cross country from the windmills and upon reaching the dirt road, continue straight up the steep and very sandy hillside and then rest a bit at the narrow saddle before continuing.

Late edit to add a video after I crossed the switchback road and began the steep trek uphill:

Here are a couple of videos: one going up that hillside and one from the saddle where I rested on a rock under the meager shade of a creosote bush.

Turned out that it was a little tougher than I thought to continue on with the sandy soil on that hillside. I almost fell 3 times, one spot might have resulted in me rolling down the mountainside but I made it, no falls. But it was enough to get me to realize that I wasn't as strong as I thought. So the decision was made, no going over the side toward Palm Springs and hiking back out that way.

In the video, I refer to the lack of a trail due to the rains, I was referring to last year's big rains that got us out of the drought here in California. The trail has overgrown, couldn't find it. It's easy though to just follow the shape of the hill to get where you are goinbg, just watch out for slippery sand and loose rock.

In the next video, I arrive at the jeep trail and look down toward the "landing pad" where my drone crashed into the hillside recently.

A closer look at the jeep trail.

Once I made it to the "landing pad" I scouted out the route down and this is the way that I went.

A view looking back up down the hill a piece.

A couple of videos, one where I sand skied."

In the video directly above there are quite a few animal tracks in the sand, including one big one- bighorn perhaps?

And the last video going down the hill, easy at this point.

Some thoughts on these videos. My brother suggested that I attach them and end up with one file but my concern was the file size and also my lack of experience with video editing. That hopefully will be changing. My plan is to try to do one of these hikes again at Big Morongo Canyon and try to do it like a film. To that end, I am expecting delivery of a book on filmmaking tomorrow and hope to put the lessons learned reading it to good use. I am in no big hurry to spend a bunch of money at this time for better equipment but may do so in the future if I could get at least one decent video made. I may utilize my Gopro now that I have retired the drone, for the immediate future at least, as it would be a lot lighter than what I am using now, a Nikon ultrazoom- my bighorn camera. I anticipate using the Gopro and my Samsung S7 Edge for the BMC video, but may still end up taking the Nikon anyway.

By the way, you can check out my Youtube channel, easy way is to click Youtube to watch these instead of looking at them on this blog. Be sure to click thumbs up or down, even subscribe if you want to. No ads.

Well hopefully you enjoyed this blog post and feel free to leave a comment as well.

Morongobill

Quick run to Amboy and Kelso Depot yesterday

2017-12-31T08:06:00.000-08:00

If a three hour one way drive can be considered quick.

My friend, Leroy Murray, rode along with me but I did all the driving in the new Morongomobile, a
2013 VW Passat, which recently was rear ended in Santa Ana by an elderly driver. After a couple days at Caliber Collision it was good as new.

So part of the reason for the 360 plus mile drive was to road test the vehicle. It performed well and got 36.9 miles per gallon to boot!

This accident really stressed the heck out of me. So a trip out to the wide open spaces was in order.

We stopped at Roy's Gas Station in Amboy, which is now owned by the founder of the Juan Pollo fast food chain, in fact, he owns the whole town! The place was jumping so we grabbed a few of the Route 66 Root beers they sale and hit the road. Next up was Kelso Depot, which was closed unfortunately. So we turned around and headed back home. On the way out of the Mojave National Preserve we stopped and took a few shots near the Granite Mountains. Nothing special, we missed the great light moments already.

For some reason, I was interested in a location and took three different photos of it.

That's all for this post. Try to stay sober if you drive tonight.

Morongobill
morongobill@gmail.com

This delightful 4 minute video sends a powerful message

2017-12-01T06:54:00.002-08:00

At least to this blogger.

I came across this over at the Burning Platform site.

Morongobill

Met some folks out on a Jeep trail

2017-11-19T17:40:00.000-08:00

To say I was shocked to have a car come by why I was resting by the dirt road is an understatement.
I have seen vehicles, in my 10+ hikes, drone flights etc in the area only a handful of times, and never
up on the ridge road.

Anyway I filmed a short video- very nice folks. The gentleman I talked to is the owner of Triple R Framing out in the Palm Springs. If you have any framing needs, check them out! Hopefully they will see this and leave a comment with contact information!

Morongobill

P.S. Here is a short video showing just how rough that trail was that they drove up.

Epic drone fail

2017-11-07T18:09:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately I forgot to turn on the Gopro so the crash into the mountain side was not recorded.

There are posts on this blog where I have hiked out near the Palm Springs windmills as well as
flown the drone there. Recently I returned, hiking up the ridge road to a flat concrete pad near a small weather station.

Here are a few videos made that day. All are short with a little wind noise in a couple.

The last video shows the direction my drone took off to, see where my shadow is facing, and I
had to go down the mountainside to get it back. Forget what I said about filming the train, once
I got back to the train tracks, I was tuckered out.

Morongobill

Finally dumped Open Live Writer

2017-11-07T17:52:00.001-08:00

Gave up on the software after even more double video posts.

When this was Windows Live Writer, I could always find a way to make it work.

Now I will have to make do with the buggy Google Blogger.

If problems continue, I may have to bail from Blogger.

Nipton visit, 11-1-2017

2017-11-05T08:42:00.001-08:00

I decided since nothing else was on my schedule to drive the four hours out to the
California/Nevada border and check on the progress of American Green’s ongoing
renovations at Nipton. You may recall that they purchased the small town a couple
months ago for $5 million with the goal of making it a marijuana themed destination.

Some may recall that I wrote about the purchase here and I am not going to rehash that
today. Instead let’s just watch a couple of videos that I took in Nipton, which were made
possible with the assistance of Darren Smalls, hope I got the spelling right, an employee
of American Green, who graciously offered up services as my knowledgeable tour guide!

First up, the tour of the Hotel Nipton, and the famed Clara Bow Room.

Next is a demonstration of the American Green Verified Vending Machine by Mr. Smalls.
Please listen carefully as he goes over the features of the machine. I filmed this with my cellphone
and my audio is loud and his less so. My apologies for that as well as the shakiness of the
videos.

This next part was written by me and posted over at the American Green stock forum at Investor’s Hub.

“

Just want to clear up a possible misconception among some. The store is technically not open yet. The hotel is definitely not finished, for example the first room that we looked into had a woman inside working. The bones of the hotel are solid though. Remember, this is a building from 1905. Rooms were smaller then and private bathrooms were a real luxury, especially in the frontier regions out west. I am fully confident that when this work is finished, this will drum up business.

The view from the wrought iron table and chairs is to die for, if you are a desert lover like me.

There were a lot of AG workers there. Everybody was smiling, going about their business, a great atmosphere to visit. I hope to return after the opening and film again.

By the way, the American Green swag was top quality. They had hats, shirts, the famous coasters, and some metal magnet type tourist things- I should have bought the one with the Hotel Nipton photo. I ended up buying a coffee cup which is a replica of the old style porcelain cups, complete with chips and wear marks. I heard it from my girlfriend, she is p-o'd because I didn't remember to grab one for her.

Also they are repairing one of the ecocabins and the flagpole is up, flying Old Glory and under it the AG flag.”

The Grand Reopening is tentatively scheduled for 11-15-2017. That depends on all the pieces coming into place
ontime. That will be the restaurant , hotel and trading post all on the same day, at least that is how I understand it.
If I am wrong, perhaps someone from AG can comment here with a new date and I will make note of it here.

You will recall that I was very concerned originally about this purchase but after seeing things in person, twice now,
I am feeling pretty good about things. The town still looks and feels the same, in the sense that is still the Old West frontier
but now seems to have a new spirit and sense of purpose. I don’t know if American Green will be able to get all
their goals done here but I really like what has went on so far and wish them the best!

Let me close with another post from Investor’s Hub written by me:

“I am optimistic about Nipton's chances. The place has held on since 1905 despite some bad times and good. There is no doubt in my mind that AG is putting a lot of attention now into Nipton and hopefully that will continue. A resumption of lotto and alcohol sales will help on the revenue front. I really am looking forward to the whistlestop reopening as well.

I have never stayed in the hotel but am looking forward to staying in one of the ecocabins.”

Thanks again to Mr. Smalls and the rest of the American Green staff for their assistance with my drop in visit.

Morongobill

Technorati Tags: american green,nipton,hotel nipton,nipton trading post,grand reopening nipton november 15th,american green verified vending machine

Checkout this new addition to the Nipton Trading Post!

2017-11-05T07:30:00.001-08:00

I will be putting up a post about my visit and the latest developments there with
the ongoing American Green renovations shortly. The post will include a video demonstration
of this vending machine(unique as it was designed to dispense marijuana products) and
a tour of the Hotel Nipton as well.

Come back later for the full write up which be out later today.

Morongobill

Technorati Tags: nipton,nipton trading post,hotel nipton,american green renovates nipton,american green marijuana vending machine

Yes, I am a medical marijuana patient

2017-10-17T07:43:00.001-07:00

At 63, guess I am back to my 20’s which was the last time that I had cannabis. In those days
it was via smoking. I didn’t smoke cigarettes so the marijuana smoke led to a lot of coughing.

Anyway I got out and didn’t touch it for decades. Got drug tested for work many times, all clean.
In the bus driving business, you had to be clean as a positive test for marijuana could lead to a
lifetime ban from commercial driving.

Now that I have lost all desire to drive passengers or freight around, my options are different when it
comes to dealing with anxiety, stress and sleep issues, as well as my benign tremor.

From anecdotal evidence, from people that I know, marijuana had a good effect on many ailments,
including possibly mine. So I started looking into how to become a medical marijuana patient.
Being a veteran in the VA care system, I had to determine their opinion of the issue. Their opinion is NO
help with it but if you live in a state that allows m/m, they will not interfere or cut off your benefits for
becoming a m/m patient.

Anyway I signed up online with a doctor and got my California recommendation.

Then I went to a couple of dispensaries where I bought a variety of edibles, including to Mini Shot drinks
from Montel Williams company, Lenitiv Labs. I tried one yesterday and started getting more relaxed
right away. The product is absorbed instantly as you drink it. My only problem is that it is so well
boxed up that it was all I could do to get it open, destroying the box in the process!

Basically the two main components of marijuana are the THC which is where you get the high, and CBD
or I would call it cannabis oil, cannabidiol, which does not get you high. Most likely, my first medication
efforts will be the CBD route.

I also bought a vape pen, a vaporizer, which heats a concentrated oil to produce inhalable medical vapors.
Kind of like smoking an E-cigarette, but with no nicotine. I haven’t tried it yet as I have been concentrating on
figuring out the edibles part first.

I can say that my girlfriend told me that my hands don’t seem as shaky and she thinks that I am sleeping
better. I feel like I am as well.

One thing that has influenced me in this has been Willie Nelson’s experiences with pot. It sure doesn’t appear
to have hurt his career or life any. I think maybe it calmed him down a bit. I hope it works for me as well, to get
rid of the rough edges that have developed as I move further along in the age process.

Morongobill

Visit to American Green’s Nipton 10/11/2017

2017-10-12T18:41:00.001-07:00

Again my apologies for the double video posting problem at the end. This is the fault of my Open
Live Writer blogging software which I continue to use because Google Blogger’s tools are even worse.

This has been on my bucket list ever since the sale of Nipton was announced a couple of months
ago. Having visited it at least 30 times in the last decade or two, I was very interested to see what
becoming a “marijuana tourist destination” would do to it and the nearby Mojave National Preserve.
One thing, actually the main thing to this lover of the MNP and the northern Ivanpah Valley, that
really alarmed me was the AG proposal to utilize the aquifer for the purposes of bottling CBD water.
Such a use of the aquifer would have a direct effect to the MNP fauna and flora, as other recent
industrialization of the area has caused- i.e. Ivanpah SEGS and other solar projects nearby.

Anyone interested in that issue can find many posts from me on that subject, I won’t delve any further
with this post.

In the time leading up to my visit, I spent a lot of time on various forums, stock market and others, reading
about the marijuana industry and in particular, American Green. I learned a lot, enough to say without
reservation that my alarm level has declined dramatically.

What follows should not be taken as a knock against the American Green folks or others. This is just
my opinion, no better or worse than anyone else.

I don’t think a CBD bottling facility is in the near or midterm future. In my opinion, it will take years to
get to that point, due to regulatory and possible environmental concerns about the aquifer. Just getting
an environmental impact study alone will take major time.

Deep down, I am an environmentalist on desert issues. I feel that my concerns on this issue can be
moved to the back burner.

It is no secret, just look at my posting history at Investors Hub on the American Green forum, that I feel
that AG might not be able to go through the major work and financing required to make their cannabis
Nipton town a reality. After all they are a penny stock company with a thin balance sheet. But now that
the issue of San Bernardino County being a giant hurdle to overcome, with the permission to do it issue,
that is something that also can be kicked down the road to deal with later, when the situation is better.
They do have one major thing in their favor though, a seemingly bottomless pit of convertible debenture
holders to handle the financing part. I say this without rancor or any ulterior motive, just putting what I
feel to be an undeniable fact out there for your consideration.

So taking all this into consideration, I felt a need to hit the road and head out to the sleepy, dusty little
hamlet known as Nipton, and see with my own eyes what was going on there.

After driving a little over three hours, closer to four, I got near enough to see the town clearly. It was
obvious without binoculars that something was going on there. It just seemed different from the last time.
Heading down the road a little further I came across the new American Green sign up on the west end of town.
Note for Ihub forum visitors, you probably have watched these videos already.

It occurred to me that a drive through the town filming might be a good idea so I did that holding my Nikon
ultrazoom camera, same one from my bighorn sheep photographs and videos, on the top of the steering wheel.

So after driving to the city limits and back, I pulled into the parking lot for the store, restaurant and hotel, discovering
that a renovation of the property had begun with the store being closed and only the camping area open, the
status of the hotel itself not being clear to me.

Here is the video I took in the parking lot.

I walked up to one of the workers and spent several minutes with him discussing the ongoing renovation
activity. I had planned on talking with someone at the store, as the restaurant has been closed for a long while,
as any reservations, purchases etc go through the store. The closed sign on the door sent me looking elsewhere
for information. Details of the conversation are in my post from Ihub below:

“

Lots of repairs being done in Nipton. Everything from electric upgrades, pumping out septic tanks, new planter in front of the restaurant about to be put in, landscaping work...
When I arrived, I thought, oh boy, closed sign on the trading post. A 200+ mile drive for nothing. But there were a few vehicles around with workers working so I figured that maybe somebody might talk to me.
I had a good discussion with a worker, btw all are locals(that includes Nevadans), who had a lot of good info. Sorry, I figured the real tough questions would be better asked another time, but still managed to gain some insight into the situation.
The camping part of the property is open now, unsure if that includes the hotel though. With all the backhoeing, hammering etc, probably not.
The store and the restaurant, per the worker, will reopen in a week and a half. In fact, he said, there is a whole lot of new equipment in the restaurant now. No other information is available on that.
According to the worker, Stephen(he pronounced it stef un, is onsite most days, renting a house across the street for during the week, and on weekends, stays in Las Vegas, to get shopping done, etc. This was in response to my question if any of the AG folks stayed at the hotel or in Vegas.
He was evidently across the street somewhere at a house where they just started a dinner honoring an elderly woman who once owned the town. His words. I couldn't hang around a couple of hours so I missed out on meeting the site supervisor today.
The signs are up as have been noted on the forum. AG is active at the property.
I asked about guests lighting up marijuana, he didn't know but didn't think anybody would call the sheriff. He did say that a lawyer was there, believe it was yesterday, for a long time and that AG had met with the Highway Patrol as well. No info on the incorporation issue.
I asked if I could do a quick panning type video, he said sure, just don't film him. Unfortunately my camera died so I had to make do with my
cellphone. Hopefully, I will have the video up soon on Youtube, maybe late tonight, for your viewing pleasure. I also video'd one of the signs and a trip through the town.
I did not feel comfortable putting my drone in the air with all the workers around, it was windy also.
I did not see the gentleman that works in the store.
Will post video links here once I get home, at least 3 hours from now.
Posted from Baker, home of the world's tallest thermometer and gateway to the Mojave.”

View this post and replies at this link:

https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=135327673

Anyway that’s all there is to this blogpost, to paraphrase a great Willie Nelson song, which I have inserted below this. Listen with good headphones or on a good stereo system. And thank you for visiting and feel free to comment below.
While you are at Youtube feel free to check out the videos as well.

Interesting videos from wayout Texas

2017-10-10T07:19:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the double video link below, I have been experiencing some problems
with Open Live Writer, my blogging software.

One of the Youtube channels that I follow is TheFieldLab, all one word.

Here is an example of the videos to be found there.

John Wells is the owner of the FieldLab, located in west Texas near Terlingua. More information
about his life and work, as well as Texas spread can be found his blog, link below. By the way, he
built his home and the warehouse complex with his own hands. You can also find a ton of information
online as well as on Youtube.

The Field Lab

Here is an interesting interview by the Texas Country Reporter, well worth a viewing.

It appears the Hangman’s Tree is crossing over…

2017-10-08T09:26:00.001-07:00

To the other side, on the slippery slope downhill, dying as we look at it.

I have noticed over the years that it seems like the branches with leaves vs those that
appear to have died are diminishing. The giant arm that reaches to the middle of the canyon
seems to be more dead than alive, as clearly shown by these two photos- top photo from Sept/2011
and the bottom October 2017, a few days ago.

Granted, the weather is starting to turn colder but the only cottonwood trees with bare limbs were the dead
or dying ones. Just a couple hundred yards up the canyon trail from the HT are a couple that have died young.
With the changes in weather and the obvious decline observed over the years, this grand old tree may give
up the ghost in a few years.

Morongobill

Technorati Tags: canyon trail,big morongo canyon preserve,hangman tree

Recent fire in Big Morongo Canyon? Pt3

2017-10-07T11:51:00.001-07:00

Here is the correct second video from pt1.

Recent fire in Big Morongo Canyon?, Pt2

2017-10-07T11:39:00.001-07:00

Thanks to uncooperative blogging software, here is the remainder of the post about the preserve
visit recently.

Amazingly the software is working properly for now. As you can see the Hangman Tree is still there.
But I am concerned why the bulldozer operator created the water flow channel to send the water right
by those exposed roots, instead of diverting the water before it got to the tree.

The view from the Hangman Tree looking up at the canyon walls above. The sun is coming up just behind
the rim.

That’s it. Hope this uploads okay!

Morongobill

Recent fire in Big Morongo Canyon?

2017-10-07T11:21:00.001-07:00

A couple of days ago I decided to revisit the Hangman’s Tree down in the Big Morongo Canyon
Preserve. It was a cool morning, bright sunshine, perfect weather to hike 2 1/2 miles downhill
to the great cottonwood tree and then trek back up to the parking lot.

On the way down, I noticed that the trail had become overgrown in a couple of sections. Good thing
this was southern California and not Arkansas, as I would have covered with ticks and chiggers going
through this brush.

Before I started my hike, I had a chat with the docent about bighorn sheep, he said that there had been
no recent sightings down the canyon as they might be over the hill staying in Little Morongo Canyon but
that he had spotted some over near the highway in the hills. That’s Hwy 62 by the downhill grade to the
desert floor on the way to I-10.

I did not spot a single bighorn during my hike by the way.

Shortly after running the brush gauntlet, I began seeing signs of a recent fire as well as work begun clearing
out fire damage, some from the big fire over a decade ago as well.

This video shows all that remains of the downed cottonwood tree that lay across the trail, just past where you
cross the seasonal stream, where one could sit and rest, or lay even lay out on. This is right before the 1.5 mile
marker down the Canyon Trail.

Outlaw bump fire stocks and other devices that turn semiauto into full auto weapons

2017-10-03T07:41:00.001-07:00

The Las Vegas Massacre has convinced me that something really needs to change in this country.

Considering the breakdown in our political system as well as the fact that money has taken over politics, it
seems clear to me that only tinkering around the edges of the problem will occur.

Well here is an example of tinkering that should be able to get through our f—ked up system. Enforce the laws
on the books and add a new one, outlaw these bump fire devices, now.

It is being reported that these devices were on some of the shooter’s weapons and that two of his weapons were
setup on tripods. Now I am no weapons expert, but it seems obvious that these were done to provide an inter-
locking field of fire and most likely were setup to work automatically. The goal of course to lay down a withering stream
fire upon an area. Diabolical. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

Let me show you just how easy it is to setup a gun for fully automatic, machine gun like, firing. So easy that the
young lady can do it in just a minute. Watch this short video which includes demonstrating the full auto fire mode.
She fires off a hundred round drum in a split second, or so it seems.

I really can’t see any justification for a regular person to own such a gun with full auto capability nor for a company
to be able to make and sell such a product. If someone wants to shoot one, join the military.

Morongobill

Technorati Tags: las vegas shooter,las vegas massacre,bump fire devices

Has the escrow closed on American Green’s purchase of Nipton or not?*

2017-09-21T13:40:00.001-07:00

*Disclaimer- this has not been verified by me personally. I am not sure that the escrow
has closed.

This news has come to my attention from several posts on the Investors Hub stock forum
devoted to American Green. For the last three years or so, I have spent a lot of my time
participating in penny stock forums, know my way around them, and can tell the difference
between posts from supporters and detractors of the stock.

In this case, information from the realtor was passed on by a detractor, that the escrow has
closed, in line with a news release from the company. That means that the company completed
its due diligence and paid the balance that was due, around 1.8 million dollars, to the seller.
The remaining 3 million will be paid off in quarterly payments over the next few years.

Now looking into it even closer, a search of the American Green website’s news section has nothing
about this. A search of the OTCMarkets(where there stock trades and where they file their SEC
required documents) also turns up nothing. This whole news came from the company itself in
a release that has made to several outlets. My detailed reading of that document shows absolutely
nothing about the escrow being closed. Nothing about any money changing hands between the buyer
and the seller for this transaction.

Edit: OTC Markets now has the news release up from Marketwire, same article as linked below.

Hence my title above- may have gone through.

Here is the news release.

American Green Successfully Completes Transaction for the Purchase of Nipton, CA, Ahead of Schedule

Here is a short post that I just put up on the IH stock forum:
”

Even a 5th grader reading American Green's latest news release can see that nowhere in the document does it say that the escrow has closed or that the remaining 1.8 million has been paid to the escrow company.
A search of the American Green and OTC Markets websites just moments ago also turns up zero results.
What I see is just a bunch of public relations talk and nice chatting with the current residents along with the "news" that a thousand inquiries have come in. Oh and yes, word that any marijuana activity will be postponed to the future. “

I wouldn’t invest in this company if I had use of your money. I won’t take American Green’s word on this sale until I visit the Nipton Trading Post personally and see a sign saying property of American Green.

Morongobill

Technorati Tags: nipton,american green,has escrow closed on american green purchase of nipton

Thoughts on the Mojave National Preserve’s and the Castle Mountains Monument’s penny stock problem.

2017-09-16T11:33:00.001-07:00

First up, the media darling, American Green and its celebrated purchase of the little town of
Nipton, for around 5 million dollars.

No way in Hell will this go through. No way.

Let me clearly state what American Green is. This is a little company that has been around for
about 19 years under various names. This company has managed to somehow survive, despite
its long record of over-promising and under-delivering, mainly by issuing what is known as convertible
debentures, which are then immediately sold as shares of common stock, I might add at some of
the most “onerous terms” in the industry per a prominent financial analyst. Onerous in that it screws
the current batch of common stock shareholders who bought and sold on the OTC market where
this outfit’s stock trades.

They have no achievements at all to boast about yet they are constantly putting out news releases,
leading some to suspect that said releases are just to get the stock buyers(mooches) primed for the next
batch of convertible debenture dumping.

By the way, did I mention that they have over 13 billion outstanding shares currently?

There is talk that the time limit is up today for American Green to finish their due diligence and
decide whether to go through with the deal or not. In other words, they can still get back their 200
thousand dollar deposit on the Nipton property. I look for that to happen unless they figure they can
get some more publicity value by hanging in there.

In any instance, in my opinion, they will not go through with this. Nothing in their management record
of accomplishment leads me to believe that they can get the funding necessary or have the brainpower
and good judgment to see the project to a profitable conclusion.

This deal is as dead as a doornail.

This is my opinion only. I am no stock analyst and am neither a buyer nor a short seller of American Green shares.

Let’s move on to my thoughts on Newcastle Gold and its re-opening of the gold mine next to the newly
created Castle Mountains Monument. I am paraphrasing here- perhaps you heard recently the remarks
made by one of NG’s top executives, Mr. Panneton, where he said that NG wasn’t “adequately”consulted in
the creation process for the new monument. I am probably mangling his quote, in fact, I am sure I am, memory
lapse in my old age, but the spirit of the quote is right on.

If he is referring directly to himself, he may be right. After all he joined the company a year or so ago. But
the company absolutely was consulted- what about the big Feinstein led Whitewater meeting where a top
executive for NG spoke up? I was in attendance and noted that Senator Feinstein went out of her way to get
the views of the mining and off-road stakeholders that were present.

I am convinced that Panneton’s remarks were aimed more for helping Rep. Paul Cook with his initiatives
to turn back the new monuments in the light of President Trump’s desire to cut back the same. Mutual back scratching
in other words.

Flash from the newsroom! Wake up out there and really let this next sink in!

This isn’t the old Newcastle Gold management team that stakeholders were working with!

This is a high powered bunch of players now sitting on the Board of Directors and forming the management team.
Led by Panneton and Richard Warke, both veterans of successful mining ventures, and Warke in particular, buying
hundreds of thousands of shares on the open market- these folks are serious players with many names in their Rolodex’s.
They get things done. The question to me and lots of folks is- will they stick around after the mine starts producing or will
they sell it out right after it starts up? Warke is known for doing that. Get a mine up and going and sell it for a profit.

Speaking of high powered, it is a fact that one of Warke’s mining ventures just brought the former Speaker of the House, John Boehner, aboard the Board of Directors. How long before he joins Newcastle Gold’s? You heard it here first. Is former Speaker Boehner involved with Paul Cook and the lobbying on behalf of Newcastle to reduce the size of the Castle Mountains Monument? I sure would like to know that answer. If he isn’t, I predict that he will be soon.

Morongobill

Technorati Tags: mojave national preserve,castle mountains monument,nipton sale to american green,newcastle gold,richard warke,gerald panneton

Nipton makes the “BONG” time as marijuana company, American Green, “buys” it!

2017-08-06T10:13:00.001-07:00

Newspapers all around the country are full of articles announcing this paradigm shift in the real estate business.
A whole little town is being bought by a marijuana company which plans to convert it from a mom-and-pop type hotel/store/rv park to a world class, cannabis based, state of the art location complete with mineral baths, boutique residences, a cannabis based “sparkling water” bottler, and even artists-in-residence!

Here are just a couple of the many “gushing” articles to be found on the web or in your local paper. These links should open in a new browser window.

Calif. town may be going to pot: Cannabis firm trying to create marijuana mecca

A cannabis startup is trying to buy an entire town in California

There are hundreds of other links to be found online, just google nipton sold.

I enjoy visiting the little hamlet of Nipton and have stopped there many times over the last couple of decades. It sits right at the top edge above the Mojave National Preserve and is a great rest stop.

The articles talk about how Nipton sits atop a rich flowing aquifer, one even called it a “Pleistocene lake.” That may or may not be hyperbole but for sure that water and its continued existence is of grave concern, at least to the Mojave National Preserve management and to conservationists, and the local flora and fauna. So the idea of a bottling plant drawing upon that aquifer is sure to be the subject, or should be, of some serious environmental review. Such reviews take time and cost some serious money, hold that thought for later.

Hopefully folks involved with the knowledge of the bureaucracy will follow this up with their thoughts on the subject.

There is talk about the new buyer incorporating the town after purchase so that the laws and ordinances can be written and implemented so that Nipton can be pot friendly, with outside recreational use etc allowed openly. Now that will take some serious lobbying and lawyering, again hold that thought to later.

Look I am not going to try to introduce any morality into this discussion but I do respect those who will. In the spirit of disclosure, from my late teens to early twenties, I smoked my share of pot. I am now 63 and haven’t touched it in decades. I do feel that it should be legal and sold in a controlled and taxed manner.

But perhaps this is not the company or the place to further legal marijuana’s place into society.

I believe that a deeper look should be made into this company named American Green which has now become the white knight riding in to buy and restore the sleepy burg of Nipton.

Think about the items I mentioned above in my post. Think of what would be involved in starting a new town and project and making sure that it doesn’t run afoul of any legal or environmental rules and regulations. How many $500 per hour lawyers would be involved in such an undertaking? Think of all the researchers and lobbyists would be involved. This kind of stuff costs big bucks. Will this company be able to pay the bills?

Per the news articles, American Green put $200,000 up and will pay the rest in cash, about $1.8 million.

How will they get the money? According to the broker who is handling the transaction there are other qualified buyers standing by, just in case. Is that typical real estate lingo? I seem to remember the same type of comments when I bought and sold both of my houses in the desert. Guess we will just have to wait and see. Or can we do a little basic research and try to get a better handle on the situation?

Something I might add that basic research appears not to have been done by all those high powered “reporters.”

Remember, this is basic due diligence here about to be presented for your perusal.

Above is what a 30 second search on Google and Yahoo finance sites turned up about this “cannabis
investment firm.” Friday’s price for this “pink sheet” stock was 0.0016. Not even a penny a share.
Yet we, and the reporters, are expected to believe that this “massively capitalized firm” will be able to a)
pay for this property and b) all the planners, lobbyists, lawyers and others involved to turn this company’s dream into a profitable reality. Oh, and handle all the bureaucrats involved with getting to all that water underground and to get a bottling plant going.

Perhaps they have been imbibing a little too much of their cannabis water? Do they even have such a product or the wherewithal to develop it?

Please look up at the charts above again. Note the 52 week range for this stock which is 0.00 to 0.01. Note also the total number of outstanding shares, 13.91 BILLION! What kind of financing do you think this ~~penny stock~~ “cannabis investment firm” will be able to get?

Well since we are not mind readers perhaps we can get some clue from their financials. Bear with me, I will try to keep it simple. Here are a few links to look at if you are interested.

https://americangreen.com/

https://americangreen.com/investors/

Note this page only has a stock chart, surprisingly there is no other financial data available there at the company site so a deeper look is required.

The two screen captures below are the latest company supplied balance sheet and the direct link to where you can see it is below. Since this is a U.S. penny stock, it supplies the data to the OTCMarkets which is where the stock is traded. You can also check the SEC Edgar site as well.

Note any time you see this (xxxx) that is a negative number, also known as a LOSS.

http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/ERBB/financials#

Below is the SEC Edgar results page. Be advised that I checked each entry and as far as I can tell, none are
the company who has bought Nipton. Dead end.

Getting back up to the balance sheet above and after looking over the income statement, we are expected to believe that a firm with 378,000 in revenues and a negative Net Tangible Assets Value of –$7,291,000 as of 6/2016, the last financials reported, will be able to cough up 1.8 million dollars more and pay for creating a new marijuana themed town- all I can say is that they must think that we are all smoking some wacky tobacco.

However, if the company provides the latest financials, we might get more information, such as how they managed to get their hands on the 200,000 dollar deposit for this real estate sale.

I have ~~invested~~ speculated in several penny stock firms and a lot depends on the story and the publicity. This stock might not be a bad flyer to take. In fact, tomorrow it may get some bounce. Already I have noted several pumpers showing up on their Investor Hub stock forum pitching this, especially the pot themed town angle.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/American-Green-Inc-ERBB-1596/

Never a dull moment in penny stock land, that’s for sure.

So I have my doubts about this deal all way around. From environmental to financial, I am thinking that this won’t be done. I am not even sure that the deal won’t fall out in escrow. Just my opinion.

Speaking of opinions, here is one from someone who wrote an instablog about American Green over at Seeking Alpha, a respected financial forum site. A well documented article and worth a read.

ERBB: American Green 2016 Annual Report

So bottom line, don’t hold your breath waiting for the new California marijuana theme town to come into being- or for the real estate deal to even close……….

But if you have a couple of shekels and ain’t afraid of great risk of losing it all, you might take a flyer on the stock as it may just rise, just don’t fall in love with your position.

BIG FAT DISCLAIMER:

I am not a shareholder in American Green nor plan to be. I am not a financial advisor. I am not a financial blogger. I hope this deal does not go through as I like Nipton just the way it is. I prefer the aquifer not be drained for bottled cannabis water purposes.

Morongobill

Technorati Tags: nipton,mojave national preserve,nipton sold to cannabis investment firm,American Green,penny stock,otc markets,pink sheet stock,ERBB,aquifer below Nipton,seeking alpha,google finance,yahoo finance