By the way . . .

Sheesh, I should have mentioned this before.



But I tend to spend way too much time expending crap about myself.



So, today is different.



In 1971, I was a young radio news reporter in Indianapolis. Well, not so young. I had about 11 years experience in the business. But I was pretty naive. I had dreams of being a writer. I mean, a big writer. Like Hemingway. So I answered one of those ads in magazines that said something like "Famous Writer's School" will teach you to become one of the greats!



Some time later, I got a call from a young woman who said "I'm from the Famous Writer's School and I'd like to talk to you!"



Wow! I thought.



But. I said (thinking that this woman had come all the way from Connecticut or somewhere to sign me up) where are you?



She said she was at a local hotel.



I said "that's a coincidence because a friend of mine is playing drums with his combo at that very hotel tonight and I was planning on coming there." So, uh, can we get together there?



Yes, she could. At 8:00 or there abouts.



Well, I hadn't told her that I was working something like 4 to noon at the radio station so I slept in the afternoon so I could go out at night.



I overslept.



But...I got to the hotel about 45 minutes late . . . or so.



She was wearing a black turtleneck sweater and a blue topcoat.



I was wearing a black turtleneck sweater and a blue topcoat.



We recognized each other immediately. We spent an hour or so while she pitched me. AND let me know that she hadn't come from Connecticut to recognize my talent. She was a local representative.



But I was captivated by her beauty and her intelligence and her charm.



.



.



.



89 days later I married her.



And she has been my love ever since.

Judy (SWMBO) . . . 38 years ago today . . . I love you.

My new look

More signs of my advancing years. Today, I went in for my first cataract surgery. SWMBO has already had it done on both eyes. Friends have had it done. One friend had to wear "coke-bottle-lens" glasses since birth. After her surgeries she suddenly had 20-20 vision without glasses and was, and is, thrilled.

I'm not so happy but then this is the first day and here is how I look.

Now if I could just get SWMBO to stop hiding my white cane . . . .

Happy Time is here!!!

Winter is over. Joyful days of baseball are here once again. And my Arizona Diamondbacks won at home on Opening Day - 9 to 8 over the Colorado Rockies. Two Diamondbacks - Felipe Lopez and Tony Clark - hit two home runs each and Chad Tracy added a fifth round-tripper to provide the winning margin.

It's a great day! Now everybody sing along!

Windy!!!

Prescott Valley has a spring tradition. Wind! Today was one of those days as it has been windy all day.

Flags were straining at the tops of high poles and even street signs were waggling back and forth.

And when one lives in a desert environment, high winds mean clouds of dust. See if you can see this duststorm in the distance.

I tell ya - it's enough to make a person just want to . . . . . sing!


- - - - - - - -

On another subject, we have another new restaurant coming to the neighborhood. It's taking over the site formerly occupied by the Apple Pan, and before that by Uncle Sal's. We'll just have to wait and see how this one works out. It's apparently related to CB's Cowboy Bistro in nearby Chino Valley so maybe that will help.

Oh, yegods! Am I getting old or what? Tombo corrected me (see comment below) and I checked it out and I was totally off my rocker on this. The restaurant in Chino Valley is actually CD's Cattle Company, formerly the Ugly Green Restaurant, and not CB's Cowboy Bistro. Sheeeeesh!!!

On all future postings on this blog, wait a day or so for the corrections before you tell anyone else. Blast!

Happy 4th!

In what has become a tradition, the Beautiful Rich Daughter (BRD) and her beau celebrated their 4th anniversary this morning. For the 4th time, the BRD and JNorm traveled by chauffered limousine to the county courthouse to take out a marriage license. As of yet, those licenses have not been acted upon. After going through the formalities (the folks at the license window now recognize them) they go to the Peacock Room at the Hassayampa Hotel for Bloody Marys, Mimosas and Eggs Benedict. It's an odd sort of ritual but they seem very happy.

This time they included She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO) and I in the fun. While we didn't accompany them to the licensing, we did join them for breakfast. As the expression goes - a good time was had by all.

Is this really necessary?

Politics!

All right.

Here's where I lose some of you.

Maybe all of you.

Whatever.

It's time to talk of politics.

I think Barack Obama is doing a pretty good job as President. Sure, he's not pleasing everyone, especially some of the people who supported him in his run for the presidency. But. But. He can not make everyone happy. When he became president, he learned many things that he didn't know as a candidate. He perhaps changed some of his positions, or some of his actions based on his views during the campaign. But a campaign is not a presidency. So things change. Live with it.

Again. The campaign is not the presidency. The candidate does not know all that he will come to know as president.

So. He is now the president. His decisions have angered some...perhaps many. But he's been president for TWO MONTHS!!!! Give the man a break!!!

And that's all I've got to say.

At present.