TIS THE SEASON

 TIME Magazine chose Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as it's People of the Year.

I saw one comment that said the honor should have gone to health care workers.

To remedy that miscarriage of justice, here is just one of them, my nephew Tim who, along with his wife, is a nurse in Washington State.

And, also in the spirit of the season, here is a short video of something I'm sure Tim would never do.

 

WHY?

 Now here's one that will drive you crazy.

Beau Jack sent it along with a bunch of other funnies and both I and SWMBO tried it and had the same result.

Give it a shot and see what YOUR brain does to you.

SATURDAY

 My part of Arizona has had some odd weather this week.

This morning it's overcast once again but without the fog which shrouded us earlier.

For example this view of Glassford Hill, our iconic and extinct (hopefully) volcano.

Trust me, it's there, hidden by that low-hanging cloud.

Then a day later, I believe, these were the (non)-views in my neighborhood.

Kind of makes me want to re-write the lyrics to that old song, "San Francisco, open your golden gates, send all that fog right down to me."

Well, I love fog so it was okay with me.

I read a lot of Sherlock Holmes stories when I was a kid and it brings back (fictional) memories of dark doings afoot on the moors.

Those clouds do have a bright side though.

They make beautiful sunsets.

Now just to leave you with a chuckle, take a look at this meme the BRD sent me this morning.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 Here it is!

The day you've all been waiting for!

FRIDAY!

Oh, and by the way, Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas Shopping Season.

Now then, on to the business of the day.

Humor, humour, levity, titillation, joy, reckless abandon, the Friday Fun House emanations.

I can hear you, saying (yelling) "Oh for cryin' out loud, will you just get started!"

Indeed I can, and I shall, right now.

All right, fellow jokesters, that's it for this week.

I hope you'll all endeavor to enjoy an exciting end of the week and I will trust you to not get enervated.

Oh, and always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(oh, you big show-off)

A RAINY MORNING

 How about that?

When I went out early this morning to take the garbage dumpster to the street, I saw dark skies and a few raindrops on my driveway.

A bit later, as I sat by the window next to my computer, I saw a slightly more intense rain falling for a couple of hours.

Here's the proof.

SWMBO says when a puddle forms in our back yard that means we've had some mentionable rain.

You may note that I mention the rain nearly every time we get more than a few drops.

We live in Arizona!

Rain is rare here.

We only get a few inches of it in an average year.

So humor me.

It's a rainy day.

I said it and I'm stickin' with it.

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE . . .

 Judy (aka SWMBO) and I don't really celebrate holidays any more.

We're OLD!

And it's only the two of us.

After laboring in the kitchen for two days for about a 15 minute dining experience on Thanksgiving this year, she said "That's it! Never again."

Although I have been making my appearance at the kitchen stove more lately, I couldn't help but agree.

And Christmas has only been something to get out of the way as quickly and easily as possible for years now.

So I was a tad surprised when she decided to do her holiday decorating last night.

Granted, it's not much.

But it's us.

It's how book people decorate.

I mean what's more Christmassy than plastic crystal strings hung over the bookcases, right?

Okay, okay, that's not all.

I mean we do have a tree, after all.

Several of them in fact.

And Santas and toys and snow.

So you celebrate Christmas your way and we'll celebrate it ours.

Now where's that bowl of wassail anyway?

Merry Christmas to all and . . well, you know the rest.

2020 POLITICS

 

"You wanna fight?!!!"

REMEMBRANCE

 

79 years ago - December 7th, 1941 - Japanese airplanes bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

The sneak attack prompted the United States of America to declare its entry into World War Two.

For all the lives lost on that long distant day flags are flying at half staff today.

SATURDAY: JUST HANGIN' AROUND

 

(thanks to Ribald Roger for this and hundreds more)

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 My, my, my, it's December already.

SWMBO said the other evening that she couldn't believe it's already December.

Some of us are thankful it IS December already.

But also thankfully, it is FRIDAY and I have some humor (humour, Brits) for you so let's get at it, shall we.

I bet you thought you'd seen all the puns today, didn't you?

Not so, frowny-faces, I saved the best (and the newest - thanks, Wacky Wally) for the last.

Brace yourselves.

Hahahahahaha!

(Feel free to join in.)

Wacky Wally doesn't waffle, he's a wicked, wileful worker as he wanders willfully in the woody wonderland of wordsmithery, wending his way to the worst of the World Wide Web.

And for that, I thank him!

Now, let's all have a sensational weekend.

Work on your Christmas greetings, STAY AT HOME, wear your masks and be safe.

There's a new year a-comin'.

Oh, and always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(uh-oh)

ROADIE

 Sometimes you just have to get out.

SWMBO and I have been pretty much cooped up in our little duplex apartment since last February.

We've taken a few little drives in those many long months but probably too few even for us, who have been trying to obey the rules designed to keep us alive.

But then there's the problem of cabin fever.

As I said, sometimes you just have to get out.

So we (with Judy at the wheel) took a longer drive today.

I asked here where she wanted to go and she said "I'm thinkin' the Cave Creek area."

Now Cave Creek is (or was) a tiny community north of Phoenix.

JUST north of Phoenix.

About 80 miles from home.

I was a little taken aback but true to my stoic Norwegian-English heritage I didn't betray a bit of it.

I merely said "You feel like doin' some drivin'?"

She said "sure" and agreed to drive down if I'd drive back.

So, about an hour and a half later we found ourselves here.

Cave Creek, I remind you, was a "tiny" community.

Back when we first discovered it almost 50 years ago!

Now, it's just a very expensive part of Greater Phoenix.

But what the hey!

We were only visiting, right?

We found ourselves here . .

 . . for a pleasant outdoor lunch.

May I just say the Prickly Pear Margaritas took the dust off that long drive just right.

And the food was good . . perhaps because it was restaurant food, served to us, not cooked by us, too expensive but delightful.

Speaking of cactus, here's what it looks like in the wild.

And there was the stately Saguaro.

Back home this evening and a couple of episodes of Downton Abbey on the television - all in all, a damned nice day.

OR WOULD YOU RATHER BE A DUCK?

 SWMBO is a fan of Rachel Madow's show on MSNBC.

I am not.

But tonight I happened to be in the room when the show started and when Rachel said she was going to start in Arizona I stopped to see what she had to say.

I assumed it would be about state officials certifying the election vote for Joe Biden and might include something about Crazy Rudy Giuliani's appearance in Phoenix today.

It did.

But moreso, it made a laughing stock of my Governor, Doug "Ducky" Ducey.

You have to watch it, if you can.

All I can say is this is what happens when you make an ice cream salesman your governor.

On a much more serious note, I advise you to watch this video on the Cheerful Monk's blog.

It's about 20 minutes long and the narrator has a somewhat monotonous, perhaps robotic, delivery but the information for our grandchildren is invaluable.

And that's all I've got on this last day of November.

Happy full moon!

SATURDAY LEFTOVERS

 

No, not from Thanksgiving.

From Friday night's pizza.

A MAN'S breakfast!

MATTY

 I was doing some preparatory work in the kitchen this morning prior to making a loaf of bread when I heard this repeated little chirp.

I glanced around the kitchen and could see no appliance or clock making that noise.

But then I heard it again.

This time I went to the door of SWMBO's room to see if she was listening to something on her computer.

Nope.

So, back to the kitchen, thinking maybe the kids next door were playing outside and that was what I was hearing.

Then I began to hear a louder sound, a clattering that I soon discovered was coming from the door to the garage.

Thinking perhaps Santa Claus was making a reconnaisance run I went over and opened the door.

A very puffy, cold Matty, the cross-the-street neighbor's cat, ran into the house!

He apparently had gone in our garage when I had the door open last night and I never saw him.

He had spent the night in our garage!

He was obviously glad to be rescued and to see one of his human friends again as he rubbed and rubbed on my legs.

Judy said to give him an extra dose of cat treats and then put him out so he can go home.

He got his treats and then went into the garage (which now had the big door open) but he was hesitant.

I walked to the doorway with him and he looked around but then when I headed back in he beat me to the door!

So I let him in again and then walked to the slider door in Judy's room.

That's the door he usually uses as he enters our home.

He went to it, looked out, sniffed the air and turned around.

He was not ready to leave yet.

So we went back to the living room and I gave him some catnip in front of the fireplace and he ate some and rolled around in the rest.

And now he's on our couch, which is where he takes his naps.

He'll probably be there most of the day.

Our friend Matty.