FRIDAY FUNNIES

Yes . . or as we used to say in North Dakota . . Yah.

Whichever, it is time once again, Gentle Readers, to tickle your ribs with the End of the Work Week Humorosities . . . otherwise known as the Friday Funnies.

Let us begin.

Alright!

Prepare yourselves now to have an exuberantly felicitous weekend and always remember to keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty.

(Warning: pun ahead!)

THROWBACK THURSDAY

About 16 years ago, one of my former colleagues and his family came "home" for a visit.

Ron Talley (Thompson) had been working for some years in Washington, D.C.

But before that he had been a reporter at KPNX-TV in Phoenix where I was a producer in the news department.

I forget what the visit was about but it occasioned a gathering of old-timers at a jazz club, Timothy's, which was later torn down.

(Not as a result of our party, I hasten to add.)

Here's the returning hero with his wife and one of his daughters.

Ron told me that with that mop of white hair he was occasionally mistaken for Newt Gingrich in the nation's capitol.

A couple, at least, who were at the party are no longer with us.

My dear old friend, Bill Stull, sitting here with Roger Ball.

Bill was a chain smoker, as you can see from the ashtray in front of him, and he kept puffing right up until the day he suffered a fatal heart attack in the kitchen of his home.

One whose death surprised me was Bill Blannon (Blankstyn), who seemed to take care of his health, in spite of some of his wilder habits.

He's on the right here, with Roger and yours truly.

Bill also died of a sudden heart attack, I believe.

I'm not surprised by the grey hair or the receding hair on myself and so many of my friends of the 70's and 80's.

But I find it surprising that so many of us expanded our waistlines.

Maybe that's what retirement does to you.

AUTUMN

We turned the furnace on for the first time yesterday.

The house had grown cold with the lower temperatures outside and the heat felt good when it began blowing from the vents.

It's a pleasure of this time of year in our climate.

You might be surprised to learn that here in this part of Arizona we actually have four distinct seasons.

Spring and autumn are my favorites.

When winter comes, we will have cold temperatures and possibly even a little bit of snow.

But if it does snow it usually disappears within 24 hours as the sun works its magic.

As I write this, SWMBO is outside, trimming tree branches and pulling weeds.

Her family going back many generations have always been gardeners and though she says she is through with all that she still has to get out and do the scut work from time to time.

For appearances.

Sometimes I pitch in but it's usually only under duress.

I'm not a fan of yard work.

The photos are of a couple of sculptures at the rear of our public library.

TUESDAY TRAVELS

Yesterday evening I heard the news that my beloved Arizona Diamondbacks had fired their General Manager and their team Manager and I wondered if my buddy Baseball Steve had heard the news.

So I picked up my phone and called him.

When he answered he sounded very down and like he was sick.

I asked him "what's the matter, you sound terrible."

He said "I just woke up."

"What?" said I, "it's 6:30 in the evening!"

His response was so surprising that I had to ask him to repeat it.

"I'm in France!", he said.

Well it turned out old smiling Steve and his wife Debbie were in Normandy.

(Cheerful Steve always smiles for my camera.)

Well I told him the news about the D-backs because he hadn't heard and, at his request, filled him in on the latest news on the presidential election campaign.

(He said the wi-fi had gone down at his hotel.)

Well I was stunned by two things.

First, that Steve and Debbie were in France.

Second, that I had called his cell phone and he answered it in France.

I can remember the days long, long ago where you asked an operator to place your long distance calls and then waited for her to call you back when she had (finally) made the connection.

And it was expensive!

Nowadays I guess it's just part of my monthly phone plan.

By the way, Judy and I have been to France, too.

She snapped this photo of me in Paris but some big old tower kind of ruined the picture.

That was 31 years ago last April.

THE GOLDEN SAVANNAH

The "Savannah" just to the east of us is changing color once again . . from green to gold.

As to how it became the Savannah, you might want to read this post.

Here's some of what gives it its golden hue.

Kinda pretty when you get up close, isn't it?

DISTANT RAIN

But, in case of emergencies, there is yet another wet solution.

PRICKLY PEAR DINING

This is a combination fruit and vegetable plant that has come to us from Mexico - the prickly pear cactus.

The green pads are the vegetable, in Spanish Nopales.

The round reddish balls are the fruit, in Spanish Tuna.

Both are edible but if you are doing your own harvesting, you will want to be careful.

There are some very visible long spines but there also are tiny, invisible glochids that are far more irritating and difficult to remove from the skin.

This plant is growing at the edge of the road in my neighborhood and I have no intention of getting any closer to it.