THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

On this sunny Friday, let's all send birthday wishes to my longtime friend, Baseball Steve, who is turning 70 today!

Who-da thunk it, back in the day.

But not dwelling on days gone by let us look to the future with humor.  

For Steve, then, here's what to look forward to.

With that then let us all light the candles on our cakes and have a very happy weekend.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(oh, no)

ThrowBackThursday

I began messing around with my genealogy today using Family Search and traced my ancestry in a direct line back to Fulk of Shepreth in Merry Olde England.

He supposedly was born in 1200.

Shepreth is a parish southwest of Cambridge and the name means "sheep stream".

Apparently it was a resting place where sheep enroute to Cambridge could be washed.

I have no idea if my ancestor Fulk was a sheep washer or not but I am happy to report that there are two "public houses" in the parish - The Green Man at Frog End and the Plough Shepreth.

So if you're in the vicinity I encourage you to lift a pint to my relative, Fulk, and to me.

(You will kindly notice that I have avoided any foul puns in this post.)

EVOLUTION

I wrote yesterday about the ongoing growth of hair on my face.

I decided to dig into the vault and show you the "growth" of my various facial hair styles.

The first attempt was a simple 'stash.

A couple of years later I had become Lincolnesque.

When Judy and I posed for a classic look for a Christmas card one year, I had a stylized goatee.

Then posing for a photo with my aloha-crazed  granddaughter it was back to a full beard again.

You may notice that my beard came out red, or at least reddish brown, in those early days.

As seen here, with my two best girls.

Or at the Sandra Day O'Connor confirmation hearings with reporter Ron Talley.

It changed styles as time went on but I remained Mr. Redbeard for quite a few years.

But then as I enjoyed an early retirement in Mexico, it began to exhibit a bit of graying.

Later, in Texas, it was becoming more and more obvious that I was, indeed, aging.

As we opened a bookstore in Prescott Valley it was getting grayer and grayer.

Now it's all gray.

Whiter as it gets longer.

Sometimes it makes me look angry.

Other times, wistful, as I think back over the years.

And sometimes it just drives me wild!

BEARDED WONDER

I used to know a guy who had thick black hair and every Thanksgiving he would begin to grow a full beard.

It was glorious and he'd keep it through the winter until he'd shave it off in the spring.

Made sense.

Now I, on the other hand, have been hirsute of face for most of the past half century.

Most of the time it's just a goatee.

I shaved it off once back in the early 90's and was appalled to find my father's face staring back at me in the mirror.

I think the last time I was bare-faced was a couple of years after that when I showed up at a movie set for a day of work as an extra.

The lady who had hired me shrieked "What are you doing with that beard?"

Never mind that I had it a couple of weeks earlier when she approved me.

I had stars in my eyes and said "Go ahead and shave it off if you like," and I was hustled to a makeup wagon for the operation.

But I'm avoiding the point of my story.

I occasionally get the urge to convert my goatee into a full beard.

But curiously I always get that itch at the beginning of summer, when the weather is heating up.

That makes no sense but it explains today's photo.

My wife favors me in a goatee and always says in the first difficult days when the sides are looking scraggly, "You look like a homeless person."

But I'm a Taurus and like that bull I stubbornly persist.

We'll see how long this one lasts.

JUST IN TIME

The temperature here is heading into the 90's this week and my long-time-ago-colleague and present-day-cartoon-provider, Wally, sent this one.

It's apt.

In the Phoenix area, where Wally lives, the highs this week are forecast to be in the 100's!

Basking weather.

BURGERS

No one makes burgers like my wife.

I know.

I call her SWMBO.

That's for She Who Must Be Obeyed.

But she is a wunderkind in the kitchen.

Ask Tom.

Ask Lana.

Ask Tim.

Ask Jeanne.

Ask Steve.

Ask anyone who has ever dined at her table.

For God's sake, ask me.

But burgers.

They're pretty simple, aren't they?

Not hers.

They are coated in onions, sauteed in butter and
sherry.

They have cheese melted over them.

Just American cheese but, as many chefs will tell you, the best.

Touched off with salt and mustard and ketchup.

They are, simply, delicious.

Accompanied by sweet potato fries.

And a dill pickle.

I can't write anymore.

I am overcome.

I love my wife.

Not the least when she's in the kitchen.

SNICKERDOODLES

I put my baking cap on yesterday and made some cookies.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

This was the week the President went to England.

So did the last President.

Here's what they each wore to a State Dinner.

I guess you can figure out why the former President is smiling and the present President isn't.

But enough about that.

Let's get on with the real Friday Funnies.

And on that somewhat less than happy note, I shall put a stop to the ribaldry for this Friday and wish you all a gloriously fun weekend.

Let's be careful out there and . . always . . remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(ah yes, the water is always better there . . .)

SUMMERTIME BLUES

Summer is upon us.

Here in the Central Highlands of Arizona the mercury is forecast by the Weather Gods to rise to 86 today.

Monday will be the first day in the low 90's, the W.G. claim.

Evenso, summer is not said to actually begin until the June Solstice which occurs this year on the 21st, still 15 days away.

But our backyard Sun Faces are greeting the morning rays with a bemused smile.

And the sky, accented by puffy white clouds, is a blaze of blue.

Today is the 75th anniversary of D-Day, marking

the time in 1944 when Allied forces including the United States of America landed in Normandy to begin to put an end to Adolph Hitler's dream of world domination.

On a personal note it is the 115th anniversary of my mother's birth in 1904.

Regrettably she died in 1953, only 49 years old.

And on a truly personal note it marks the date when Judy and I crossed the border into Mexico in 1987 to begin a four-plus year adventure south of the border.

A lot has changed in the intervening years.

A JUNE SHOWER

A bright sunny day changed this afternoon.

Thunder began rolling across the sky and I spotted some rain falling in the distance.

And a short time later a brief shower here dropped enough moisture to dampen the streets.

SWMBO noted "the weeds needed some moisture."

CONSTRUCTION (continued)

You may recall that I have posted a couple of times about the new wing being built on the large house behind our home as a private home for the man's mother, who presently lives with the couple.

Here was my last post, at the end of March.

You may recall that I was curious about the rather slow progress on the project.

Well, now it's the first of June and they're still working on it.

The roof was finally shingled this past week and a covered deck has been built all around the house.

I was talking to the builder yesterday and he noted that that deck will be very nice, providing either sun or shade all day and offering a nice view as well.

The Queen's Quarters is looking quite nice and I'm sure she will thoroughly enjoy it.

(If it ever gets finished! 😉