Baseball Season!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, it's that great time of year. Baseball season is coming! Oh, I know. Spring training isn't even underway yet. But today, several of Our Arizona Diamondbacks came to my town.

First picture, left to right, broadcaster Mark Grace, players Justin Upton and Stephen Drew, former player Jay Bell, and pitching coach Bryan Price.

That's broadcaster Darren Sutton on the left.

And here he puts his Sharpie skill to use to sign the back of a fan's jacket.

J-Up, Drew and Bell, all smiling about the upcoming season.

First time in many years I've had the chance to see some of my heroes up close.

There was a huge crowd and long lines throughout the Fry's store but everyone seemed to be in a great mood.

Play ball!

Afternoon at the lake

I stopped off on a sunny afternoon at Watson Lake recently. Gorgeous day.

There was a young couple taking a boat ride.

And some of the professional floaters enjoying a swim.

Yes, a beautiful day. And it was still January!

Desert Botanical Garden

Some photos of the "natural" beauty of the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.

Chihuly at the Desert Botanical Garden

SWMBO and I made a trip to Phoenix yesterday to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden. The garden is a spectacular place on its own but the amazing glass art of Dale Chihuly brings it to new life. With, as they say on television these days "limited commercial interruption", take a look. (As always, the photos are much more spectacular if you click on them and expand them individually.)

Keep in mind that everything you see is made of glass. These next objects are hollow and, therefore, so light they actually float on the water in a pond.

If you'd like to more know about the artist and his work, you can find it here.

Ahhhhh, spring!

Doesn't this just make you feel like spring is in the air?

Sure made me feel that way when I saw this wagon load of flowers outside a shop in Prescott the other day. I had to go back the next day with my camera to get a few shots. But when I got up close, I discovered these were SILK flowers!

I stepped inside the shop to complain but was quickly shown a case full of REAL flowers.

They were even better than the silk ones outside so I promised the folks some free advertising.

Oh, so you say that's not enough? O.K. I also scanned their business card. (A little wobbly but you get the idea, right?)

Joe and Vikki are very nice people so give 'em some business. Buy some flowers.

C'mon, there's a recession on! Everybody needs a little help.

There's even a toll free number!

(Oh . . . and by the way . . . it's not really spring here yet. It only got up to 55 today!

Heh-heh-heh.)

Feeling burned up?

So, this fine Thursday, let's see what's going on in our neighboring "city".

Prescott is known to some as "Everybody's Home Town."

To others, it's just "P-town."

If you lived around these parts, you might have been heading for the hills this week.

Or, "from" the hills if they looked like this.

But, not to worry. It's just the annual ritual called "slash burning". The Forest Service burns off some of the dead trees to keep them from burning in an "uncontrolled burn" later in the year. One of those fires, apparently started by homeless transients, nearly burned the town out a few years ago.

So every year, the Forest Service tries to protect folks from themselves and we see letters to the editor in the paper about all the terrible smoke.

Ho hum.

Cal-o-ries . . my mouth does crave cal-o-ries!

So, you're feeling kind of hungry.

And you don't feel like you want any more sushi.

No raw tuna.

No tofu.

I know what you need.

It's popularly called "The Bacon Explosion."



Now that your mouth is savoring it . . . here's the full story:

The Bacon Explosion

(Be sure you watch the slide show)

You're welcome!

Well, look at this!

What a difference a day makes!

THIS is ARIZONA???????

At least it's not sticking and the weatherman says it will move through by morning.

(Click on the photo for a larger and better view)

A gloomy day

These photos were taken yesterday and may be indicative of yesterday's blog. First, clouds settling over Granite Mountain.

Clouds may be breaking up down toward Phoenix.

But it's still pretty dark above Glassford Hill.

And a mixed sky back toward Prescott.

Meantime, south toward the Bradshaws, you can see snow on the north-facing peaks.

Signs of the times

Today we take you on a little tour of our neighboring city - Prescott - "Everybody's Home Town." Except maybe it isn't. Following up on a rumor we paid a visit to one of P-town's oldest restaurants - the Pine Cone Inn.

Well the sign shows promise of fun.

But wait! High noon and this is the parking lot.


What's going on? Aha, the rumor is true as this sign on the front of the building points out. (Sorry about the blurriness. Photographer failure)

The word is the restaurant had been for sale for a couple of years but so far no buyers have surfaced so the doors have been locked.

Well, moving into downtown in the heart of the restaurant and bar area, we found another place shuttered.

We heard the same story on this place. Been for sale for a couple of years but no one is interested. Looks like the luck of the shamrocks didn't help.

And finally, here's one that's been closed for quite awhile. Last time around it was called N'awlins. Before that it was Zuma's. And who knows what before that. It's a nice building with a roomy interior and only half a block from the center of town but apparently no one wants it either.

Could be the recession but I don't know. My town has recently opened two new hotels and at least one new restaurant. Maybe "Everybody's Home Town" has lost it's charm.

President Obama

Now the tough work begins.

Photo courtesy the Los Angeles Times

Only a few more hours

Tomorrow . . January 20th, 2009 . . will be an historic date for America as Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America.

I have some years on me and, like many others, I had never thought I would experience the inauguration of an African-American as president.

Today was Martin Luther King day and tonight my memories have turned back to the middle 1960's. I attended a radio-television news director's convention in Chicago. At one noon luncheon we were addressed first by former president Dwight David Eisenhower. I grew up in a Republican family and, while my father had supported Robert Taft for the Republican nomination in 1952, when Eisenhower won and then won the presidency . . he became a hero and somewhat of a demigod to him. But Ike was not a good public speaker. He read his speech to us and even that was not a stirring address. Later, Martin Luther King spoke. I was sitting in a front row, just a few feet away from the podium. King began in his slow, Southern way of speaking by apologizing because he had forgotten his notes back in his hotel room. And then he delivered a spellbinding speech with no hesitations, no ers and uhs (as Eisenhower's speech had contained), but just an amazing oratorial performance. I have no memory of what he said but I still remember how amazing a public speaker he was.

I have seen the "I have a dream" speech many times over the years and it still sends a chill up my spine. And I have seen the speech King gave the night before he was murdered in Memphis, where he said that he had seen the mountain top, that he may not get there himself but that he knew the mountain top would be reached.

Well, I ramble. Barack Obama is also a great orator though not as chillingly good as King, in my opinion.

But tomorrow, he will become the president of a nation that is facing great challenges and serious problems. Four or eight years may not be enough for him to solve all of the problems.

But he has a huge majority of the population favoring him and backing him. In a country beset by problems and the worst economy probably any of us have experienced, we wish him well.

Omigod!!!!!!!!!!1

I can not believe it.

Barack Obama is about to be inaugurated as the President of the United States

...and . . . .

the Arizona Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl!!!!

What a year.

Sing out! (2 more days!!!)

(Thanks, Tommy)

3 more days

As I'm writing this, President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden are speaking to the crowd in Wilmington, Delaware as they make their train trip from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. (It's a little colder than it was when the picture above was taken.)

It seems like all of America, if not all of the world, is waiting for this new team to take office.

Me too.

Well . . . it's a thought

6 more days . . or 5

Less than a week left of the Bush presidency. As we here in America watch countless interviews with the President and the Vice-President, we ask ourselves . . . WILL IT EVER END?

Here are some of the soon-to-be ex-president's "finer" moments.

To the world: we apologize.