FRIDAY FUNNIES

Gentle Readers, (and I hope you are both gentle and readers) it is time once again for something important.

To celebrate AUTUMN!

Yes the cooler temperatures have arrived and yard work has returned.

But I'll try to keep you amused, at least for today.

There.  I think that's enough for today.

Once again I must express my sincere gratitude to all of my contributors whose sense of humor is as off-kilter as my own.

Tomorrow is October 1st so I want you to get out there and buy lots and lots and lots of candy for those upcoming Halloween trick-or-treaters who won't show up at your door so you'll have weeks and weeks and weeks of time to enjoy it yourselves!

(I love this time of year and its attendant fetes!)

But above all, Gentle Readers, have an exhorbitant weekend, such that you'll be the envy of your neighbors and always remember to keep laughing!

(And use lots of exclamation points.)

Here, kitty-kitty.

(Oh, for crying out loud, are you still fawning over her?)

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Let me show you how we covered elections 50 years ago.

This was part of the election night studio at KFYR-TV in Bismarck, North Dakota in 1966.

In the upper right you see news reporter John Warren and sports director Roger Higgins (drafted for the night) waiting to go on the air and report returns.

A runner has just hand delivered returns from one of the local precincts and a couple of gals are busily toting up the results on hand-operated adding machines.

The bald-headed man is Evan Lips, a state senator and former mayor of Bismarck.

He shouldn't have been in that position but as a highly decorated university football player and ex-Marine, nobody was going to tell him to get out of the way.

Here's a view of our interview and telecast area with Bob MacLeod and I readying for a broadcast.

The "fancy" sets were designed and executed by the station's art director, Claire Anne Holmberg, who is checking the AP and UPI wire service machines with Wes Haugen in the background.

That big scoop in the upper left was a very hot television light.

In this picture I'm interviewing a local businessman, Thomas Kleppe, who was in the process of being elected to Congress.

He later served as head of the Small Business Administration and Secretary of the Interior.

It was a simpler era back in the 60's.

(KFYR-TV had only been on the air for 13 years.)

I still have many memories of those early days and the crude but complicated way we covered political events in the state's capitol city.

Nowadays the roof of the building is covered with satellite and microwave dishes.

ANYBODY UP FOR A COWBOY MOVIE?

I've been scouting locations.

AND THE EARTH SHOOK

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 126 YEARS

TUESDAY TRAVELS

May 4, 2009.

Watson Lake boulder area outside of Prescott, Arizona.

The day I discovered my legs were no longer fit for clambering around on uneven surfaces and making quick, short hops to get down off of them.

I was 69 years old and trying to get down off these rocks without killing myself made me feel like I was 100!

I no longer had spring in my step.

It was a sobering discovery.

Now I'm 76, my goatee is even whiter and my legs are even weaker.

Damn! I hate these travels.

ARE WOMEN EQUAL TO MEN?

Just one man's opinion, of course.

PAUL BUNYAN LIVES!

Back in April of this year I wrote a post about my meeting with the legendary lumberjack, Paul Bunyan.

You can read that post and see picture of our meeting here.

Today I can report, for any of you Gentle Readers who may have doubted my story, that the newspaper of record, the New York Times, has authenticated the "history" of Paul Bunyan in Minnesota.

You can read it here.

And that may be all you will ever hear about Paul Bunyan on this blog.

Maybe.

FRIDAY FUNNIES

It's time!

Yes, oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!

Time once again for the Friday Funnies!

I can read your thoughts out there, Gentle Readers.

You're thinking "how does he do it, week after week?"

It's all because of y'all and your generous contributions.

So let us commence.

Awright, enough!

Gotta save some for next week.

Have a super-duper weekend, everyone, and remember to always keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(oh, dear)

THROWBACK THURSDAY

BEST GUITAR SOLO EVER?

I was cruising around on You Tube last night and ran across a guitar solo by Mark Knopfler that was called "the best guitar solo of all time."

That's pretty big praise.

Especially given the wealth of great guitar players in the world.

I think of B.B. King, Les Paul, Keith Richard, Prince, Chet Atkins, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and, of course, Eric Clapton.

That's just to name a few.

There's no arguing that Knopfler's work is of a lesser tier.****

The creator of the legendary band Dire Straits is a marvelous finger-picker.

Witness:

But is that the best guitar solo of all time?

You decide.

**** I put four stars because this was a MAJOR error on my part.  What I meant to say was "There's no arguing that Knopfler's work is NOT of a lesser tier."

That's an awkward way of saying that he's right up there with the best of 'em and that's what I meant.

If Mark Knopfler reads this blog (yeah, sure) he has my sincerest and most embarrassed apologies.

Meantime, some good answers in the comment section.  

Keep 'em coming.

And yes I have heard of Leo Kottke.

TUESDAY TRAVELS - CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'

A few years ago, SWMBO and I took a drive over to visit our friends Tom and Lana in California.

The occasion was one of Lana's many art shows.

As you can see, Lana experiments in a variety of styles.

Notice the frames on this wine-inspired collection are made of wine corks.

She's also a champion bread baker.

Her husband, Tom, is a colleague from many years ago in Indianapolis radio.

Here he's explaining something to Griff, another friend from those radio days.

Of course if you visit friends who live on the coast you have to check out the ocean.

Naturally, I found some of the avian life of interest.

And there were some wonders of the mammalian world to view.

Elephant seals come, year after year, to this same spot to spawn their young.

It makes for a very popular tourist attraction.

It may have been California but these Arizona heat-dwellers found it a bit on the chilly side at times.

As usual, this dry-land person never wanted to leave the seashore.

Good friends, wonderful hospitality, a great visit.

LOOKING BACK

I was just looking back in my blog and found this picture from November 2008.

Election night in Chicago with a new President-elect and his family.

I think, as President Obama's time in the White House comes to a close that he did a pretty good job for a man facing such opposition for eight years.

CLOUDS

Some random cloud shots taken from a moving car.

These were over the Verde Valley on our recent road trip.

SWMBO took the next two on the road up the mountain from Jerome, also overlooking the Verde Valley but from the other side.

The last one was taken as we passed the viewpoint just above Jerome.

Nice contrast with the mountainside in the foreground and the Red Rocks of Sedona in the far distance.

SURPRISE SIGHTING

I've had this picture in a standby file for months and decided to use it today.

When I posted it here and blew it up I noticed for the first time (I think) that there is a hummingbird zooming in on the feeder.

I'd never noticed that before.

When I cropped it down and blew it up further my suspicion was confirmed.

It appears to be a female Anna's or Black-chinned hummingbird though it's difficult to tell from this photograph.

It looks more like the Black-chinned because the female of the species doesn't have a black chin while the female of the Anna's does, strangely enough.

At least that's what the illustrations in my new bird guide show me.

For the first time I have a guide to birds found specifically in my area.

It's new and if you're in the Prescott area it's available at Jay's Bird Barn.

(Disclaimer: I have no connection with the store or the creator of the product.  Darn it.)