Cathartes Aura Sinae Spotted Over Venezuela -- July 4, 2018 -- Reminiscing On This Fourth Of July

From a post dated February 27, 2018:

I was thinking about the vultures circling Venezuela. Over on Twitter there has been more and more chatter in the last couple of days regarding Citgo failing and Russia (Rosneft, specifically) getting ready to pounce. Then, earlier today a tweet suggesting that the US was ready to intervene to keep Russia from getting a toehold inside Venezuela. The tweet suggested that China wouldn't let Russia or the US get the booty without a fight.

So, early this afternoon, tweets suggesting that the US, Russia, and China were getting ready to go head-to-head/toe-to-toe on Venezuela or Citgo or some piece of either or both. It's complicated.

Now, tonight, on twitter again, this story from The [London] Financial Times: Swiss trader seeks go-ahead to buy Venezuea-Russia oil loan.

I said it was complicated.

Washington approval of the Swiss request could avert Russia (Rosneft) from taking over a stake in Citgo refineries in the US.

It looks like at least one vulture has landed, to the tune of $5 billion. From oilprice.com, "China throws Venezuela's oil iindustry a $5 billion lifeline."

China’s Development Bank has approved a US$5-billion loan for Venezuela’s oil industry, Bloomberg reports, quoting the troubled South American country’s Finance Minister Simon Zerpa.

“We’ve received the authorization for a direct investment of more than $250 million from China Development Bank to increase PDVSA production, and we’re already putting together financing for a special loan that China’s government is granting Venezuela for $5 billion for direct investments in production,” the official said.

The loan is literally a lifeline for PDVSA, which has been unable to stop an accelerating production decline resulting from years of mismanagement and a cash crunch brought about by the tightening grip of U.S. sanctions.

International Energy Agency figures suggest Venezuela produced an average 1.36 million barrels of oil daily last month. This is down from 2.9 million bpd five years ago. President Maduro vowed to increase production by 1 million bpd by the end of the year, but he admitted that the goal would be difficult to meet.

The Bloomberg article is here.

The vulture has tentatively been identified as a Cathartes aura sinae.

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T & A

I know nothing about cars. Nothing. Well, maybe a little, but not much.

My dad often talked about how exciting it was when his dad bought a Model T Ford . From another source:

The Model T Ford was introduced in 1908; $825; first car to be affordable to the masses. By 1916, a factory-new Model T sold for $360. 

The Model A, 1927; replaced the Model T which had been in production for 18 years.]

I know that my grandfather had a Ford Model T because my dad talked about his father driving the three older kids to high school in the family's Model T, while Carl, the youngest, and Clara, one year old, walked to school. That was in 1929 and dad was starting second grade, seven years old. He would have been one of the older kids in his grade; his birthday came in February, so about midway through the school year he was "one year older."

I did not know it, but there must have been a country school within walking distance from the house. The farmstead was a couple of miles south of Newell, SD, where the high school was located.

From the biography:

Sometime after 1928, my grandfather bought a 1917 Model T Ford to haul [sugar] beets. The Model T had a truck box, similar to the box on the [horse-drawn] wagon, and as best as my dad could remember, it could haul about one ton to a load.

My grandparents were truly "dirt-poor," raising sheep in northwester South Dakota even through the Great Depression. about which they were unaware except what they read in the news. But for them, as poor as they were, to be able to buy their own car speaks volumes about Henry Ford, even if it was eleven years old. My grandfather, had he stayed in rocky, mountainous Norway, near the Arctic Circle, would never have had his own land, his own farm, much less his own car.
But then, get this, looking through the archives, from my dad's biography:

“Then around the end of January [1935] the terrible winter struck. It was 40 degrees below zero for three weeks straight. We watered our cows and horses out of the ponds. It got so cold that the ponds froze solid to the bottom. It was then necessary to haul water from our neighbor’s well, about two miles from our place. We put chains on our 1928 Model “A” Ford. A 50-gallon barrel was placed on the front bumper and leaned against the hood. Two 5-gallon cream cans were hauled inside the car. We made many trips a day to water the cattle. The horses and sheep could get by on snow.

“The roads would drift but that didn’t stop us. If we got stuck we would get out with scoop shovels and shovel ourselves out.

“I was home all this time as the schools were closed for three or four weeks during the worst of the winter."

Re-reading the biography, that now makes sense. In 1928, Henry Ford introduced the Model A, the "replacement" for the Model T. One can assume many, many Model T's all of a sudden became available in 1928 as folks "moved up" to the newer model. The Model T was probably being "given away." And even if not in great condition, my grandfather and uncles would have been incredible mechanics as all farmers and ranchers need to be -- mostly self-taught -- and could have gotten anything to run.

The "new Model A," first produced in October 1928, and first sold on December 2, 1928, was designated a "1928" model. So, by 1935 my grandparents, "dirt-poor" in northwestern South Dakota had their second car.

What a great county. What a great way to reminisce on July 4th -- about life 90 years ago (1928) or even a century ago (1918).

On another note, look at that one line: We made many trips a day to water the cattle. The horses and sheep could get by on snow.

That adds a bit to an earlier entry when a reader and I were discussing sheep and water. And the world's dumbest sheep dog.