A slow Saturday

Ho-hum.  This Saturday has been lazy.  Nothing much going on.  So . . . it's a day to try making cinnamon rolls.  First the batter.  Built it in the bread machine.  That took about two hours.  Then rolling out the dough and topping it with butter and a mix of sugar and cinnamon.  Then rolling it up and cutting it and putting into a pan.  That took nearly another half hour.  Then letting it sit, covered, for another hour.  Finally, into the oven for 25 minutes.  Then top them with a glaze.

By this time, SWMBO was about to break down the non-existent door to the kitchen.  Which may explain why my photo is of a partially-eaten product.

Ah, the perils of the new cook.  Or baker, I guess.  I'm not sure it was worth three hours or more.  But the boss said they were good.

Construction update

I know you've all been waiting for this - an update on the construction of the Highway 89-A overpass at Viewpoint Road in Prescott Valley.  Well, here it is.

Let me give you a closer look.



The crews are getting ready to lay girders above Viewpoint Road, maybe this weekend.  There are already warnings that traffic will be detoured at least through the weekend.

I noticed a huge black bin up on the side of the construction.  You can see it off to the right in the first photo. 

Here's a closer view.

Well now, I wondered, what else would you put in there?  Gold ingots?  Paper money?  Loose change?  Stock certificates?  But no, that bin is only for trash.  So watch yourself!

By the way, little old Prescott Valley - known by the snobs in Prescott by it's old name "Jackass Flats" - may have already passed the hot shots in population.  Word came out today that Prescott actually lost population in the year from 2009 to 2010 and P.V. was only a little more than 1,000 people behind it in population.  Prescott's population grew by 17.4 percent in the first ten years of the 21st Century to 39,843 in 2010.  In the same period, Prescott Valley grew by 65 percent to 38,822.  By this time, it may be bigger than Prescott.  It's been a lot of years of being put down by the big shots down the road but that may soon be a thing of the past.  Hurrah, I say.

Broder

One of the great ones is gone.

David Broder, the longtime political reporter and columnist for the Washington Post, died at the age of 81 from complications of diabetes.

Broder was one of my idols in my days as a political reporter.  I used to watch him in his television appearances on Washington Week on the Public Broadcasting Service.  He always seemed calm and full of wisdom.  I read in the many tribute pieces appearing everywhere that he was the consumate reporter, spending many more hours than any other reporter knocking on doors and listening to the average voters across America.  He was not real good with technology, his colleagues say, coming late to computers and the Internet, preferring instead to use his manual typewriter.  Lots of young reporters today don't even know what a typewriter is, not to mention never having seen or used one.

All things come to an end.  Typewriters.  Hard-working political reporters.  Nowadays it is just too easy to put on some makeup and appear on television.

I think that's too bad.

So long David.  Some of us will miss you.

Tumbling Along

The wind is blowing and in my neighborhood the tumbleweeds are tumbling.  This pair almost kept up with the traffic.

Change

What is it in us that demands change? 

Someone wiser than I once said "the only constant is change."  I remember learning that decades ago and using the expression ever since.

But is it dissatisfaction with our lot?

If it is winter, there will come a time when there is too much snow, too much cold.  If it is summer, it will soon be too much hot.  And we growl or whimper - "when will this damnable weather change?"

Generations ago people lived where they were born, pretty much their entire lives.  But . . with some exceptions . .  new generations seem to move around the country, even the world, as often as they change their clothing.  It would take me a long time to figure out how many homes I've inhabited in my 70 years but I do know that I have lived in two countries, five different states, and 15 communities.  Some of them more than once.

Maybe I'm the exception.  A friend of mine once told me he had taken to writing my address and telephone number down in pencil because it changed so often.

Well, so it goes.

This is written to explain why, if you've visited this blog before, the colors and perhaps some of the layout and my picture have changed since your last visit.  And undoubtedly it will change again in the future.  Only one thing has not changed.  The author.  Good old Catalyst.

Oh, one other thing.  I've thought about this for a long time and finally made the plunge.  You will now see my real name up there by my photo.

Now put your hands together for the late Harry Chapin.

Cat habits

What are you going to do when you have a home with three resident cats and only one door that opens to a screen door?  Normally you just sit back and watch what happens.

When I opened the inside door this morning Jazz was the first to make it to the screened viewing position.

But that was short lived.  Blackwell, now sometimes known as The Big Cat, soon showed up hoping to take a spot next to her.  But Jazz is not big into togetherness.  When a snarl didn't scare him off, she left.

A little hostility doesn't faze the big one and he settled down into the place of dominance.

But that left Muggles, the oldest but most nervous of the three.  She crept up behind Blackwell, thankful to peer over his shoulder.


But that only lasted for a moment and she soon fled the room as well.  Blackwell settled in for a session of watching whatever moved outside the door while the other two pouted.

Cats.  Can't live with 'em.  Can't live without 'em.

Protection?

I noticed this decal on the front fender of a car adjacent to mine in a parking lot this morning.

And I wondered.  Does this guarantee any special protection?  The little fairie, or whatever it is, doesn't seem real war like.  But who knows what hidden powers she may have.

I do know one thing.  She made that white car appear to be blue in my photo!