THE TWO ARTISTS

Never let it be said that SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) can live long with a bare fence.

Long-time readers of this blog may remember what she did to an ugly old fence at the last place we lived until moving here a year and a half ago.

She began painting it!

By the time she was through, or as through as she ever lets an artwork be, it was a grand mural.

Well guess what?

We have a new (to us) home, a new patio and another ugly old fence.

And, lo and behold, yesterday the paint cans and brushes and rollers came back out and a new project was begun.

But this time she had help from the BAD (her Beautiful Artistic Daughter)!

There was consternation from SWMBO over the colors coming from the paint she had purchased.

But the BAD had brought over a large quantity of a bluer blue that proved to be just the ticket as Judy discovered this morning so here is the progress so far.

First the base is laid down and then the artistic flourishes are added.

But I, who shall benefit from all this, think it already looks better.

This time the muralized fence shall (eventually) be signed by Les Deux Artistes.

(Google tells me that's French for The Two Artists)

ANOTHER DAY . . . ANOTHER YEAR

As I reminded you Friday, yesterday was my lovely wife's birthday.

I had asked her where she wanted to go out for dinner.

She replied that no one, no one in their right mind anyway, goes out to an overcrowded restaurant to eat on Mothers' Day, which coincidentally fell on the same day as her birthday this year.

So then I asked her what she would like me to prepare at home for her dining pleasure.

She responded quickly that she would like the Jacques Pepin recipe I had done fairly recently for Sriracha Baked Chicken Breast and a loaded baked potato.

So that's what I did and what we had.

Sorry for the messy plate but that's what happens when you load up a potato with margarine, salt and pepper, sour cream and chives and top it with crumbled bacon.

Here, then, is the only allowed photograph of the honoree about to dig in.

Yes, I know.

She's a little camera-shy these days.

Oh and of course there was a birthday cake.

This year my very rich Flourless Chocolate confection, topped with the requisite "sprinkles".

Always mindful of fire hazards, we left the candles off.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 OMG!

Is it really Friday already?

This week has just shot by.

(sorry about that. if you've been reading.)

Anyway, let's all get ready for a Really Big Weekend.

Yup, it's Mothers' Day on Sunday!

But more important to me, it's another birthday for SWMBO!

Yes, Judith is . . . . once again . . . . about to be . . . . KISSABLE!

As my friend, Tom in California, said the other day "Judy's journalistic chops are great!"

But he was talking about her skill as a news reporter and I cannot more agree with him.

She's a wonder, she is, and I just hope she appreciates the crowd of friends and relatives I have coming for her Big Day!

( . . . oh, Judy, I'm just kidding . . . )

But enough of this incessant chatter.

Let's get to the business of the day: LAUGHTER!

Let me hear you, Gentle Readers.

Now if you have to have a young(er) person explain that last one to you, don't feel bad.

I did.

And just a hint . . . it's a groaner.

As is this one . . . again.

So with that sad bit of humor, we shall end this week's thorny endeavor.

Let's all have a great weekend and try to struggle up come Monday Morning.

But whatever, always remember to KEEP LAUGHING!!!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

SERENITY

 

Thanks to all who offered their concern and good wishes after yesterday's post.

Last night was calm and we just wanted you to know that all is quiet this morning here "in the hood/on the Western Front".

GROWTH PROBLEMS

 Awhile back, on the morning the Legado apartment project was torched and burned to the ground, I told you about a woman I met who was gazing at the damage as was I.

She said hotly that she didn't feel sorry for the developers because the 5-story project was "too big for our small town."

I gently responded that it wasn't a small town anymore.

We had another reminder of that last night, much closer to us.

After reading an email Judy had sent I told her I thought it would be right for my blog and she consented.

So here it is.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Last evening we had both retired to our rooms and were reading in bed.  Suddenly there were four or five very loud bangs outside the house.  I wondered if our neighbors were setting off fireworks.  Bruce thought someone was banging on our front door.

In less than five minutes the neighborhood was lit up by cop cars with all lights flashing.  Across the street all the residents of one side of a duplex were outside in the yard.  Soon there were too many cops to count milling around and flashing their very bright flashlights in every direction.

Then out came traffic cones draped with crime scene yellow tape . . . IN OUR DRIVEWAY!  The yellow tape was wrapped around the tree in our front yard in addition to the traffic cones.  A floodlight from one of the police vehicles was aimed at our home.

Bruce got dressed and went out front to try and discover something from the cops about what was going on.  No info there at first.

Finally it was determined that there had been a drive-by shooting, with the duplex residents straight across from us as targets. No one was hit.  The little girl who lives there was pacing and crying.  Now and then someone would embrace her.  She grabbed her little bicycle and started to ride it but was told to put it away.

The police found shell casings in our driveway.  They also found tire tracks and a female detective asked if they were from our car or not.  When Bruce didn't know because our car does leave tracks she asked to photograph the tires.  He opened the garage door and she took her pictures.

She also told him they'd be there for an hour or two and apologized for the upset.

We finally got so tired of the whole experience that we decided to go back to bed at about 10:45.

This morning all is clear.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

------by Judith Taylor

FUN WITH DADS

 There is a certain kind of humor that I have been accused of having.

It's the kind of humor that people disparage as "Dad Jokes".

Usually they are puns.

Like . . .

or . . .

or . . .

or . . .

Then there are those guys who started putting their jokes up on signboards outside their businesses.

And, of course we can't leave out whoever began all of those Star Trek memes.

Some times the so-called Dad Humor is just silly.

Like . . .

Which brings me to an example of where I may have found my particular brand of humor.

From a song my Dad used to sing in the car at the top of his voice, embarrassing my mother and making my brother and I laugh.

I still sing it but I won't do that here.  I'll just give you the lyrics, as I remember them.

"Emmalina and I went fishing one day, 

on the bank of Chesapeake Bay.

Emmalina caught a codfish and I caught a bass, 

Emmalina fell in, clear up to her asssssssssssssk

me no questions, I'll tell you no lies.

Emmalina fell in, clear up to her eyes!"

Thank yuh, thank yuh, thank you ver' much. 

 

ARSON RESULT

 You may have read here about the tragic fire that engulfed the huge apartment, shopping and dining complex named Legado in the heart of Prescott Valley, Arizona.

I wrote about it here and here.

Investigators have long since ruled it an arson, committed by the same mysterious person who also started fires at the local high school.

He is unknown as yet but a reward for his capture and conviction has soared to 100 thousand dollars.

The loss to the builders of this project is put at 60 million dollars.

Here are some photos of the aftermath that I took today.

All of what you see will be demolished.

The owners of the property hope to rebuild.

As I said, the criminal who caused this damage is unknown.

As yet.