THE BEARD

I promised last Monday (check back if you like) to keep you updated on the progress of my beard.  I'll try to remember to post a new picture each Monday.  Here is the one I took a few minutes ago.

The chin is filling in nicely around my goatee.  But the sides are groaningly slow.  'Course it's only been a bit over a week.  Time will tell.

By the way, I suppose I should apologize to SWMBO for this picture.  She thinks I look terrible in "gimmee" caps.  I usually only wear this one in the morning because my window faces east right into the sun and the cap cuts down on the glare.

THE BRD'S "KIDS"

The BRD and her Beau Jack are spending the week in Kona, Hawaii.

Hence her acronym BRD: Beautiful Rich Daughter.

Since she has three cats that live with her, her mother SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) is house- and cat-sitting for her for the week.  I was over there earlier today and took some photos of . . . yup, you guessed it . . . the cats.

This is Lilly, the friendliest of the tribe.

Her coat is so luxurious you just have to grab hold of her.  They ought to make women's coats out of fur like that.  She takes little urging to come up on the arm of the chair I sit in and ask to be petted.

Apparently she knows how beautiful she is.  She's always ready to pose.

On the other end of the scale is Mister.  Though he's the fattest solidest of the trio he is very shy at first and stays at arms reach.  

But eventually curiosity perhaps is too much for him and he relaxes. REALLY relaxes.

"Are you talkin' to me, buddy?"

And last but definitely not least is Jet, who is the most aptly named. He paces around like he runs the place and is difficult to photograph. Until HE relaxes.

The BRD is a nervous mother.  She asked me on her first day away to send pictures of the animals.  

I did better than that.  

I got a blog post out of it.

BREAKFAST

What we had for breakfast yesterday.  And I finished off today.

Here's a closer look at the gooey crunchy goodness.

Unlike its appearance when it came out of the oven, it is NOT a baked octopus.

It's a special holiday treat from good old Trader Joe.  SWMBO blamed the "sugar rush" she claimed to have acquired from eating her share of it yesterday for the nap she had to take a short time later.  I fell asleep in a recliner with a golf tournament on so maybe she's right.  Or maybe, like so many of my friends claim, golf and baseball are so boring they'll put you to sleep!

FRIDAY FUNNIES

Here we are again with what you've been waiting for ever since . . . yesterday.  It's the Friday Funnies!

If you don't remember "The Honeymooners" you'd better find someone older to explain that one.

This week the cats will just pop up randomly.

Wait a second.  Think about that one.

And with the StarCat and thanks to all of my contributors, I wish you a Merry Weekend full of laughs.  (Bet you thought I was going to say something else, didn't you?)

THROWBACK THURSDAY

I told you on Tuesday there was a clue in the photo to today's post. My buddy Tom from California was the only one who correctly picked up on it.  No, it wasn't the 64 or 65 Chevrolet Impala.  It was the license plate.

That's an Amateur Radio Call license plate and those were my call letters back in the day.  I predicted my lifelong broadcasting career a bit early when I became a "ham" radio operator.

Here's a picture taken in one my many ham shacks over the years. I got my first license in 1955, as a 15 year old boy and held a series of licenses over the years.  I think this particular scene was in the basement of our family home in North Dakota though I can't be sure.  I've always been amused by the photo because it has all the air of a spy in his den in World War Two, getting some bombing coordinates to his confederates in the Allies.

'Course, I've always had a vivid imagination, too.

FOG OR LOW CLOUDS

I don't know which it is - fog or a low cloud.  It rained here all night long and the car's windshield was taking a light mist when I was out about midday.

Whichever it is, it's hanging on the peaks and in the lower passes in StoneRidge today.

Kind of a nice break from all that damned sunshine and warm weather we get here.

(heh-heh-heh)

I'M A WINNER!

For maybe the first time in my life I have won a contest.  You can read the details here.

SNOWED IN

I have gently made fun of my friends in colder, snowier climes in recent days.  So I thought I'd give them a chance to get even.  This is a photo of my car parked next to my house in Bismarck, North Dakota in 1966.

When I left the house preparing to drive to work, I found that an overnight massive blizzard had left a snowdrift that completely covered the car.  I walked the mile or two through the continuing snow storm to get to work, where I remained for three days.

When the snow finally stopped and I was able to get home again I wielded a snow shovel and a broom for some time in order to dig out the rear of the car and access to the interior through a passenger door.  Then I started it and just backed it out of the drift.  A large portion of the snow clung to the top of the car as I drove slowly down the streets.  It must have been quite a sight.

You can read more about the blizzard here.  This is why I now live in Arizona!

By the way, there's a clue in the photo to my upcoming Throwback Thursday picture.

WINTER GROWTH

I decided a few days ago to grow out my beard.  I've had a goatee and moustache for a long time and I've had a full beard in the past but it's been awhile.  Since my goatee has turned nearly fully white I thought I'd seen if I have a white beard, as well.  It seems to be taking its own sweet time.

I trim the goatee down to make it more resemble the rest of the growth so I don't just look like a homeless person.

Back in my younger days it was all reddish-brown.

But over the years it has gotten more Hemingway-esque.

This time around I'm hoping for the Santa Claus look.

By the way, here's where it all began, back around 1970.

My first selfie!

I remember in 1991 when we were about to move from Mexico back to the United States and I decided my face would get us back across the border easier without a beard.  So I shaved it all off.  I was stunned to find my father staring back at me in the mirror!  I think I've had facial hair of some type or another ever since.

I'll keep you posted on the current crop.

LEFSEPALOOZA!

If you come from a Scandinavian family* you've probably heard about lefse.  You've probably heard about lutefisk too but that's all I will say about that.

Lefse is kind of like a flour tortilla only thinner.  Wafer thin.  It is made from mashed potatoes and other ingredients but the potatoes are the main thing.  Balls of the dough are made, then rolled out and grilled on a griddle.  There are various ways to eat them but I always liked the ones I ate with butter and sugar, then rolled up into a tube and munched.

In Minot, North Dakota, where my brother and a couple of his kids and their kids still live there's a lefse-making tradition nearly a decade in the making.  They and other members of the extended family who gather there for a Thanksgiving feast call it Lefsepalooza.  It occurs on Black Friday and takes the place of shopping.  Here are some photos of this year's activity, courtesy of my nephew Barry's wife, Amy Fredregill.

Barry shows off one of the finished products.  Next to him is Amy, rolling out another and behind her is the host, Larry and his sister, Loretta.  The event features personalized aprons for everyone.

You may also notice what appears to be a bottle of some adult beverage on the counter in front of Larry.  The event is held in his garage and one must have sustenance to keep one's bodily warmth up to par.

And here is the outcome of the day: 194 lefses!  Amy says that's LESS than usual because they increased the rounds to 14 inches.

A job well done by these descendants of Norwegian immigrants. 

*The maternal side of my family came from Norway many years ago to farm in the rich soil of North Dakota.  

I grew up eating lefse. 

And avoiding lutefisk.

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT . . .

I know some of you folks have been fighting snow and ice and cold temperatures for days now, way ahead of the traditional first day of winter.

I just thought you'd like to know why I live in Arizona.

This is the street in front of our house on Thanksgiving Day.  We sat outside on the patio in shirtsleeves enjoying a 70+ degree sunny day before having our feast. And, no, it doesn't get too hot in the summer where we live.

But for the rest of you folks . . . here's Deano!

FRIDAY FUNNIES

I trust you all had wonderful Thanksgivings and are recovering comfortably.  Today a very special edition of the Friday Funnies. It's my first pre-Christmas special and it's ALL CATS!  What a surprise, eh?  So without further ado, let's get to it.

And with that, a tip of the nog and/or wassail to you.  Many thanks for the contributions, have a great weekend, folks, and keep chortling.  

(I wonder how many of them noticed the name of the bar.)

THANKSGIVING - 2014 AND TBT

Well, the big day is upon us.  Since it's also Throwback Thursday I searched my photo files for a Thanksgiving picture from my past.  I can't be sure if this one was from a past feasting day but it has all the qualities.

Presenting the Taylors.  Adults (left to right): Me, my older Brother Wayne, my Dad Franklin.  I'm holding Wayne's second son, Tim, and my dad is holding my second son, Scott.  Kneeling in front are the oldest boys, Wayne's Larry and my Troy.  We kind of look like toy soldiers, don't we?

And flashing forward to Thanksgiving 2014 . . .

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

THANKSGIVING - MINUS ONE

Yesterday's post about Thanksgiving encouraged some debate about when it all started. Tom and Phil both weighed in with historical perspectives of the Great Southwest celebrating Thanksgiving long before the Pilgrims and Puritans of New England.  Tom noted a Feast of Thanksgiving in New Mexico in 1598 following an arduous exploratory journey north from Mexico.  And Phil reminded us all that Santa Fe was an established town in New Mexico by the time the Pilgrims landed.

But wait!

A couple of Florida scholars say the first Thanksgiving actually was celebrated by Spaniards in what is now St. Augustine, Florida in 1565. (Presumably in Spanish, one of the official languages of Florida these days.)

So the debate goes on and on.  But it first became an official government mandated holiday way back in 1941 when President Franklin Roosevelt signed legislation (y'all remember legislation, don't you?) naming the fourth Thursday of November every year as the day we celebrate, eat ridiculously huge meals and, if we remember, give thanks.

And, so says Wikipedia and who would argue with them, modern day Thanksgiving goes back to those Calvinists in New England. Just never mind the Spaniards and Mexicans and Indians who went before.  

Kind of like how we tend to forget or ignore our history even today.

THANKSGIVING - MINUS TWO

Just because a group of stupid lawless renegades took advantage of a grand jury decision to loot stores and burn others out or to the ground last night should not take away from our celebration of Thanksgiving.

There is no common ground on when our Thanksgiving holiday was first marked.  It is generally assumed that it was the Puritans in Massachusetts who initiated a feast AND A FAST marking a day of thanks for . . . well, I guess, letting them survive in this new and sometimes unforgiving land.

But that was 1621 in the Plymouth Colony.  History tells us that the widespread habit of a Thanksgiving harvest festival did not widely take hold until the 1660's in New England.

Whatever.

It is a day when families gather together . . in modern times . . to overeat, indulge our familial grudges and watch football on humongous television screens.  (For which we are all thankful.)

So it's two days away.  Our frozen turkey (breast) is out on the counter beginning the long thaw.  SWMBO is off today to an earlier than usual lunch with the BRD and then a stop at Trader Joe's to pick up whatever else is needed for our feast.  Somewhere in the next couple of days I have been commissioned to make a pumpkin pie although the "little woman" will make a ginger snap crust for it to reside in.

I don't know about you but I'm already getting hungry.

I'll have more on this subject tomorrow.

TEMPERATURE'S RISIN'

High noon in my part of Arizona and, while the sun is shining, it's a bit nippy outside.

BUT, the high temperature on Thanksgiving Day is forecast to be 72 degrees Fahrenheit.

YAY!

How's your Thanksgiving Day going?

DENVER OMELET

I built and baked a Denver Omelet yesterday for the two of us for breakfast/brunch.

It came from a recipe in All Recipes magazine.  I didn't have the ham it called for so I substituted some bacon.  And I didn't have the green bell pepper so I substituted some mixed mini sweet peppers. But it was good and one of the best things about it is there's enough for not only Saturday but Sunday as well.  Bingo!  Two days breakfasts in one.

Now.  As we were finishing the second helping today, SWMBO said do you remember that I made this awhile back and you took pictures and blogged about it?  I had to admit my senior memory had lost it. But I searched and, lo and behold, there it was.  And only two months ago! If you'd like to see what I said then and get a better look at it, click right here.

Even so, I made it this time, all by my ownsome.  And again, it was delicious.