SUNDAY SCONES

 We are at present without an oven.

Early the other morning there was a thunderstorm here and we lost power for about half an hour.

After we got it back I was resetting clocks and made a mistake with the one on the kitchen range.

After Googling I found that I had mistakenly put it in "Sabbath Mode", which essentially put the oven out of commission.

After trying several fixes I reluctantly committed to the final one, which says it will restore itself after 72 hours.

We still have the stovetop and a lot of food can be prepared on it.

And we have two, count 'em, two Microwave ovens.

The big old monster we've had for ever and a smaller one we bought when we moved here and discovered there was not one mounted above the stove and the old one took up way too much of our limited counter space.

And we have a toaster oven/air fryer, on a shelving unit in the garage which also holds the old microwave oven.

Some time back I had purchased a couple of cookbooks designed for air fryers but had never used them other than for idle reading.

So I pulled them out yesterday and was leafing through them when Judy asked to see them.

She quickly found several recipes that sounded good to her, including one for Mini-Blueberry-Scones and suggested I make them this morning.

And so I did.

This is not a photo of mine since we scarfed them down before I thought of the camera.

This is a photo from the cookbook but mine looked about the same.

The ones I made are capped with an orange zest/sugar topping which made for a nice crunch.

They were luscious and we quickly devoured all eight of them!

For those wanting the recipe, here it is: Allrecipes Air Fryer Mini 

Blueberry Scones

If you make them, don't forget the tea and keep your pinky finger out.

British or not, gotta be correct y'know.

SATURDAY MORNING

A (semi-)perfect breakfast.

A two-egg omelet rather sloppily flipped with mozzarella and cheddar cheeses melted inside.

It tasted good, anyway.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

So, in honor of Thursday . . . HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Wait a second.

It's NOT Thursday?

It's NOT Halloween?

Oh, man, talk about jumpin' the gun.

I'm sorry.

But it IS still Autumn, isn't it?

No, don't get teed off.

It's rough but that's all I've got.

Just a slice of humor.

But it's par for the course.

Now get y'selves over to the 19th hole and pour y'selves a drink.

Or not.

At any rate, have a great weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . at least SOMEbody appreciates my humor . . . )

DA BOYS

 Well, once again the "old boys" got together for lunch and a special "so long".

But there was a difference this time.

A couple of days before, I came down with an intestinal "bug" and didn't feel I could leave the house.

Our previous gatherings had been held at the Rock Springs Cafe (aka The Pie Place) that I had selected because it was (theoretically) halfway between me in Prescott Valley and the rest of the gang all in Greater Phoenix.

Since I was out for today's gathering they were free to hold it in the Valley of the Sun this time.

So at a restaurant in North Phoenix this crowd gathered today to eat, drink, lie, laugh and bid a fond farewell to The Legend: Lew Ruggiero.

Left to right, they are Rick DeBruhl, Wally Athey, Lew Ruggiero, Steve Torbeck, Al Macias, Roger Ball and Chuck Emmert.

What's with all that grey hair, you're asking?

It comes from the intensity with which they all did their jobs at the same television station.

Well, okay, it comes with age, too.

The alums all departed KPNX for greener pastures at differing times in the past.

Some in the distant past.

Now about Lovely Lew.

After 45 years enjoying Arizona's healthy sunshine, he and his wife are moving back to California to be closer to his kids and grandkids.

He will be missed by this gang, by many other co-workers, by nefarious outlaws and scofflaws, and by all who have stood in his shadow and marveled at his deeds, this writer for example.

'Course, he will also be thought kindly of by the owners and workers at numerous 7-Eleven stores who, in his honor, could have coined the slogan: A Slurpee (or two) a day keeps the bad guys away!

Happy landings, Lew.

Mindless Monday

Somewhere today it's Columbus Day.

And somewhere today it's Indigenous People's Day.

But here at Oddball, it's nuts to you.

STILL BAKING

Just to let you know, I'm still baking.

Earlier in the week, I made a couple of loaves of banana bread.

This one is getting smaller by the minute as SWMBO, my official taster, has pronounced it delicious as one slice after another disappears.

But not to fear, the second loaf is in the fridge, so far untouched.

That same evening I finally squoze (Taylor vernacular for squeezed) 18 limes and made my first ever Key Lime Pie.

Half of it remains but it won't last out the weekend.

Don't tell anyone but the "whipped cream" that tops each slice comes out of a can.

SWMBO pronounced it equally delicious.

This morning I tried a new recipe I found for Maple Oatmeal Muffins.

Mine were studded with dried cranberries instead of the cherries the recipe called for and I didn't have pastry flour so used a mix recommended of half and half whole wheat and regular white flours.

No word from the official taster yet but she scorned them before I made them because she claims not to like maple syrup in baked goods.

I snagged a small corner as we were removing them from the pan and I loved it.

So we'll see.

I can not by any means be classified as a master baker but as SWMBO might say, "it keeps him out of the bars and off the streets."

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

With yet another humongous storm in the southeastern United States, it's been another of those weeks you don't want to write anything about in your diary.

Which may explain the absence of entries in my blog for the past several days.

But each day I wake and open my eyes with surprise and some degree of elation so I hope passing on some humor will help those in nature's angry path and those with friends and family in those areas.

So, once again, here goes.

Well, that's the best I can do, my friends.

Now let's all take care of each other and try your best to have the bestest of weekends.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . oh, c'mon, that was good advice . . . )