FRIDAY FUNNIES

Gentle Readers, have you noticed that the older one becomes the faster time passes?

It seems like only a week ago I was formulating some Friday Funnies and here I am again.

Oh.

Never mind.

O.K., Faithful Followers, before I say TTFN (ta-ta-for-now) a word or two about that new banner photo above.

Those are some very insistent Koi at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Phoenix, which Judy, aka SWMBO,  and I visited yesterday as part of a minor celebration of our 46th wedding anniversary.

The "big" day is actually today and, in our celebratory mood,  so far I have hauled a broken recliner out to the alley hoping the trash truck will take it while Judy is busily packing boxes for our move next month.

Because today is Friday and traffic in and around Phoenix becomes even more nutzo at the end of the week, we moved our anniversary fete up a day.

So if the spirit moves me I may have more photos of the Garden tomorrow.

In the meantime, whether or not you have any important dates to remember I want you to have a gay (in the old sense of the word) (or the new) weekend and always, always remember to keep laughing.

With that . . . here, kitty-kitty.

(Awwww, he toasted us.)

MY FAITHFUL COMPANION

The Almighty Blackwell

VOICES OF THE PEOPLE

I had to make an errand run into the little town on the hill that refers to itself as Everybody's Home Town.

I'm talking about Prescott, Arizona.

I was surprised to see six street corners in the heart of town with sign-waving protesters.

Five of the six groups looked like these.

The anti-Trump sign wavers had a variety of concerns.

But they were unanimous in their disregard for the Trump presidency.

As I said there were demonstrators on six corners.

The sixth were a small group of flag-waving Trump supporters.

Fortunately, I think, the two opposing groups were staying on opposite sides of the street.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES (LONG GONE)

Do any of you Gentle Readers remember this bit of ungrammatical doggerel?

Spring has sprung

The grass has riz

Where last year's

careless drivers is

If you are of a certain age, you might recall that "verse" was posted on consecutive roadside signs and was followed by one more.

It was an advertising campaign for a brushless shaving cream back in the day and the rhyming signs were a delight to drivers and their passengers plying the roads around the nation.

You can find the whole story here.

For some reason that particular rhyme has always stuck in my mind and pops up every spring.

Kind of like these blossoms that popped up on trees in the neighborhood, perhaps too early and ended up scattered in the streets when the temperatures cooled and the winds came back.

BASEBALL IS BACK!

The sun is shining!

The grass is green!

The Arizona Diamondbacks opening game of the 2017 Major League Baseball season has been played to a stirring victory!

Somewhere in that scrum is Chris Owings, the hero of today's walk-off win against the San Francisco Giants, who got the game-winning hit with two out and down to his last strike in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Actually there were many heroes for the D-backs, who came back from margins of 3 to nothing, 4 to 3 and 5 to 4 to win the game.

And the Giants' would-be hero, pitcher Madison Bumgarner must be thinking tonight "what do I have to do?"

All he did was strike out 11 Diamondbacks, pitch a perfect game through five innings and set a new record by hitting two home runs as a pitcher on an opening day.

He's in the record books but the Diamondbacks are undefeated, as my pal Baseball Steve just told me on the phone.

Then there's the Giants' new closing pitcher, one Mark Melancon, who the team signed to a four year 62 million dollar contract.

He left the field after his debut in the ninth with his tail between his legs.

Yes, baseball is back, the Snakes won on opening day and all is right in the world.

FRIDAY FUNNIES

Ah, Gentle Readers, another week is staggering to a close.

It's been a rough one but it is ending happily.

I burned some meat last night.

Ohh, sorry, that's an expression I learned when I lived in Texas a few years back.

Actually I did a stove-top t-bone steak, cut it off the bone, sliced it and added it to my hot salsa de pimiento and served us each up some pepper steak.

In otherwords, we celebrated.

And now on this Friday it's time for some gentle jocularity.

O.K. so they're not hilarious but they're droll.

And that's enough for this week.

Fair Followers of the Friday Funnies, I want you all to venture out of your secure environs this weekend and enjoy spectacularly a Fine and Festive Friday Full of Folly.

And continue it throughout the weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(uh-oh)

"FREAKIN' LUCKY"

The title of this post came from the BRD.

We had a visit today from the management lady who recently told us our rented house was being put up for sale.

Since we are not the type of people who can say "we'll buy it", we knew that we would soon have 30 days to leave and nowhere to go.

Our management lady . . . let's call her Hope.

That's not her real name but I don't want to get into any trouble here.

Hope told us she had been looking for a place for us and not having much luck.

Judy replied that we had been looking for smaller duplexes but they got snapped up before we had a chance to get in line.

Hope responded that she had one coming up because the man who had lived in it for 8 years was having to move to a larger house.

Judy said "We'll take it!"

Hope said she would have to have some painting and flooring done but suggested we give 45 days notice on the house we're living in and about to be sent packing from.

Later, when I hand delivered our notice to her she said she was probably going to put in hard flooring, like laminate.

I nearly jumped for joy because Judy had talked about how she wished we could get a place without carpeting, which is so hard to keep clean.

So, it appears that we will in about a month and a half have a new address.

The relief both Judy and I feel is amazing.

And you know what?

The new duplex is two-tenths of a mile down the same street where we lived for 12 years, up until an ill-fated move to Phoenix in 2013.

So, when the BRD heard our news she emailed us "You guys are so freakin' lucky!"

😼   😼