FRIDAY FUNNIES

Ah, another week, another seven days of shocking stories from Washington (and Montana).

This was the week where El Trumpo went to tussle with the NATO ministers.

The mind of Catalyst is reaching the saturation point.

So, Gentle Readers, let us ignore all of the political folderol and get on with something important: the Friday Funnies!

That Texas girl has some interesting arm candy.

O.K. dear friends we are nearing the end of today's run and I just wanted to give you one truth to concentrate on this weekend.

And with that metaphysical mystery I wish for you an entrancing weekend of frivolity and fun.

And always remember: keep on laughing!

We move to new quarters next Thursday so the appearance of next week's Friday Funnies are impossible to predict at this point.

But we'll be back . . . eventually.

Now then, here kitty-kitty . . .

(Oh yes . . . you're coming too, Blackwell!)

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Some of you who know how I worship at the spikes of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team and how I consequently share the same message back and forth with my buddy Baseball Steve - "Have I ever told you how much I hate the Los Angeles Dodgers" - may be surprised . . . nay, astounded . . . to learn that once upon a time in a previous life I was a fan of those damnable Dodgers.

I'm not sure how it happened but I became a fan in the mid 1940's of the old Brooklyn Dodgers as I was growing up in faraway North Dakota.

Everyone else in my family, for whatever reason, rooted for the Cleveland Indians.

But my team was the team of Jackie Robinson.  

Of Pee Wee Reese.  

And Gil Hodges.  

And Duke Snider.  

And Carl Furillo.  

And Johnny Podres.  

And Carl Erskine.

Funny how I can remember the names of so many of those heroes of my youthful days.

I continued to hope for the glory days for "my" Dodgers as they abandoned Ebbets Field and Brooklyn for the Hollywood lights of Los Angeles.

It lasted until the team was sold to an Australian, for gosh sakes.  

The hated Rupert Murdoch, who has other sins on his black record.

Fortunately for me that was in 1998 and coincidentally was the same year that the Diamondbacks came into existence.

And since I was a longtime resident of Arizona the switch was easy, even after 50-some years of cheering on the Boys in Blue.

But ten years earlier, though I was then living in Mexico, I was still rooting for the Dodgers.

Yes, those Dodgers.

Those were the Dodgers of Kirk Gibson and Orel Hersheiser and I was very proud of them.

Now . . . they're just those Damnable Dodgers.

BORN TO BE WILD

Yesterday's post about the bold, daring and never-stopping DK prompted a tip from Jager in the comments:  "Get your motor running.  Steppenwolf"

Once I looked that song up on You Tube and listened to it I knew it was the perfect refrain to follow the DK birthday post.

AN ADVENTUROUS WOMAN

Did you ever think, "I wonder what my life would be like if I ever lived to 85?"

Well those of us still around are getting closer and closer to that age.

For instance a friend of mine who I'll refer to as DK.

She just celebrated her 85th birthday and a lot of family surprised her at a gathering.

As you can probably figure out that little lady in the black top and white trousers in the center of the picture is DK.

She thought she was just going to a daughter's house for a barbecue.

But another daughter suddenly appeared.

And then her son and a grandson.

And then another grandson.

And on and on until this happy crowd had assembled around the matriarch.

Now you might figure that is enough excitement for any person.

But you have to hear the rest of the story.

You see DK and a friend had just returned the day before from a trip that took them to London, then on to a Viking cruise ship on the Danube River which took them to Budapest, Bucharest and many points in between.

And this is a lady who was on another cruise a few months ago that took her to Cuba!

DK is an adventurous woman, all right, and when she finally passes on, (many years in the future, most likely), I think they'll have to confiscate her passport and nail the coffin shut!

Happy Birthday, pal.

JUST CHILLIN'

A HAPPY SAILOR

Some of you Gentle Readers may remember my post (link here) about Webb Chiles, a 75 year old man in the midst of his 6th circumnavigation of the globe in a small (24 foot) sailboat.

Well I am pleased to relay that he has successfully sailed from Durban, South Africa (having started off from New Zealand a year ago) to Saint Helena island in the mid-Atlantic; thence on to St. Lucia island in the Eastern Caribbean for a week's respite.

And around two weeks ago he set off again and has made port in Marathon, Florida.

The last leg of his journey included many days of happy sailing and the tough old buzzard posted this photo of himself enjoying one of those days.

(Apologies, Webb.  I lightened the picture somewhat to better show off your glowing grin!)

As I have said before you can read his own account of his adventures, misadventures and plans for the future here (Webb Chiles log).

As he takes a break from his journey all I can say, once again, is "Well done, sailor!"

FRIDAY FUNNIES

Yeah, I know, you're all saying, "Where is he?  Where are our Friday Funnies?  I know he's old but do you suppose he died?"

So I answer, "I'm here.  They're here.  No, I haven't.  Yet."

Even the great ones start slowly some days.

As for those "old" comments, I can do those myself.

So let me just get some breakfast here.

All right, are you happy now?

Are you smilin'?

That's the right spirit.

Now just maintain that special elan (you can Google that) and have yourselves a splendiferous (or that) weekend.

Oh, and always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(Uh-oh, he's been up to something again.)

BLUE WATER

I have chosen today to give all of you (and us) a break from my stories of moving and show you a little of Arizona's beauty.

This is Watson Lake, which sits between Prescott and Prescott Valley.

It is actually a reservoir, as I'm sure the Arizona writer Katie Lee would call it.

That is how she twits the lovers of Lake Powell, near the border with Utah.

But reservoir or not it doesn't detract from the natural beauty of that blue, blue water on a sunny day.

Just a few feet away and looking a different direction one can understand why this area is called the Granite Dells.

The granite outcroppings are perfect for scaling either by amateurs or paramedics practicing their skills.

If you are of a certain age it is easy to remember the cowboy actor Tom Mix and his horse Tony galloping around this area.

Long, long ago.

It's a great place for boating or birding or a picnic or for hiking the four mile trail around the lake, though this old man has never tried the circumnavigation.

And the Peavine Trail even links all the way to Prescott Valley.

(Watch for rattlesnakes!)

Now, with apologies to Marlin Perkins, so ends this edition of Wild Kingdom.

LEASE SIGNING

We signed a lease for the "next" home today and learned to our great surprise that the rent is $50 less than we had previously thought!

😁   😁

Does that look like a couple of happy campers?

Every fifty bucks helps these days.

Moving day is set for June 1st but it looks like we'll gain access to the duplex a few days before that so we can begin taking small things over and storing them prior to moving day.

Tonight, acting on a suggestion from SWMBO that I had already been thinking about, I moved my printer from a stand on the left side of my desk over to the right side of my desk top. 

That frees up some more space and it's actually going to be handier than it has been.

(I am, after all, right-handed.)

((The teensy-tiny bit of dust on the top of the stand in the first picture is entirely of my doing, having absolutely nothing to do with SWMBO or her house-cleaning abilities.  Don't judge.))

I am getting more and more enthused about down-sizing.

As my friend Scott, aka "Low and Slow" from the Flight Plan blog, told me "It's a pleasant, stress-free way to live."

And when you're a couple in your late 70's/early 80's, it is definitely time to down-size.

And so . . . the beat goes on.

(Remember these two youngsters?)

NEW HOME

We finally got a walk-through of the home we'll be moving to at the end of this month.

It's a small duplex.

We'll be in the one on the left.

The two-car garage will be a godsend for storing boxes and furniture until we can decide what goes in and what does not.

As I said this is a smaller duplex than the one we lived in for a number of years up until 2013.

All along we've said we're downsizing and we will be forced to somewhat, though most of what we've become comfortable with will fit.

The present tenant showed us through the place yesterday.

He's nearly all moved out so Judy got a chance to take a good look and see where our "stuff" will go.

Tomorrow we sign a contract, presumably for a year's rent, and soon (we hope) we'll be able to begin moving some of our stuff over there.

In just over two weeks a moving crew will come and move us entirely over.

We feel somewhat relieved, somewhat anxious, but some of the pluses are a gas fireplace in the living room, ceiling fans in each of the rooms and a larger patio than we had anticipated.

As I said repeatedly to Judy last evening, "it will work out."

TGIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Thank Gawd It's Saturday)

FRIDAY FUNNIES

On this not-so-happy Friday there is a garage sale going on at the rear of my house, Judy and I are looking forward to a quiet but feastive (yes, I did spell that the way I meant to) evening to celebrate her birthday and people are asking "why aren't we rioting in the streets?"

In relation to what's been going on in Washington this week I can only thank a Roman dramatist named Plautus, who in the second century BC must have been looking far into the future.

He coined the term "tragicomedy".

Be that as it may, today is Friday and it is my job to try to lighten the mood so let me begin.

I hope you feel a tad better now and that you'll always remember to keep right on laughing.

It doesn't matter if people stare at you.

Now I hereby decree that you all get out there and have a wonderful weekend.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(Huh?)

WIND

It seems like it's almost always a windy day in Prescott Valley but the way it blew this weekend was outrageous.

With the wind came cooler temperatures.

The mercury dropped about 12 degrees on Saturday and another 20 on Sunday when it topped out in the 50's.

We're expecting . . . well, the Weather Gods are . . . some rain and possible thunderstorms in the next couple of days but then the front will pass through and it's expected to be sunny and around 80 degrees by Friday.

Just in time for our garage sale.

PONIES!

I took a little excursion into Prescott today and stopped off at a car show that was fitting for this Kentucky Derby day.

If you can't tell what they have in common, here's a clue . . . a really big clue.

Whether you call them Pony Cars or 'Stangs, the familiar galloping steed in the logo identifies them all as Ford Mustangs.

There was even a group of them painted on this car.

They come in varying styles since their introduction in 1965 and every color under the rainbow.

I've seen this next one before and it's always one of my favorites.

The hood was up just to show you that this car is no sissy, in spite of its pink color.

Mustang fans and owners enjoyed walking around looking at all of the vehicles on display.

Along with the familiar Mustang logo several cars also displayed familiar license plates.

As I was leaving the show I spotted another sleek vehicle just outside the display area.

What drew me to it was the name on the rear of the car.

I was telling Judy about it when I got home but I said it was kind of disappointing to me, "Looked like any ordinary car you see on the road these days."

But then I added, "of course it can probably go 200 miles an hour!"

Might even outrun a Mustang.