A DAY AT THE LAKE

I was out running errands yesterday and made a stop at Fain Park.  I spent some time watching the ducks.

First there was one.

Then there were two.

Then there were four.

Then, finally bored with this silly game, they swam away.

Which brings me to today's Gratuitous Critter photo.

This one makes me wonder (a) what is the dog thinking, (b) what is the buffalo thinking, and (c) who will win this face-off.

THE ELECTION

We are now a mere three days from this year's Presidential election.  I know one person who consistently says Mitt Romney is going to have a landslide victory.  This person spends an inordinate amount of time watching Fox News and listening to Rush Limbaugh.  I believe all three are wrong.

On the other hand, I put all of my faith in Nate Silver and his 538 blog.  I have mentioned him before but just to remind you . . Silver correctly predicted the winner of 49 out of 50 states and the winners of all 35 Senate elections in 2008.  So his record is pretty good, I'd say.

This year he has consistently said President Obama is the favorite, for which he has drawn the ire and criticism of a number of pundits, most notably Joe Scarborough, who say Silver just can't be right.

In his blog today, Silver said:

"There were 22 polls of swing states published Friday.  Of these, Mr. Obama led in 19 polls and two showed a tie.  Mitt Romney led in just one of the surveys, a Mason-Dixon poll of Florida."

Further on Silver concluded:

"If the state polls are right, then Mr. Obama will win the Electoral College. If you can’t acknowledge that after a day when Mr. Obama leads 19 out of 20 swing-state polls, then you should abandon the pretense that your goal is to inform rather than entertain the public."

And with that, I leave you with today's Gratuitous Critter photo.

FRIDAYS FOR EVERYONE

For some reason I don't have a lot of inspiration for today's blog.  I switched over to Google Chrome from Internet Explorer a day or two ago and think I like it.  It does take some getting used to but it seems to be faster than IE.  Only time will tell.

Had a doctor appointment this morning.  All is well.  In spite of my diet the doctor said I'm not diabetic.  Close but not there.  Yet.  My doctor, incidentally, is Chinese.  His name is Ying Wang.  We were talking this morning and he reminded me that while he was born in China his parents moved the family to Brazil when he was 10 years old.  So, here's this Chinese boy speaking Portugese and then he moved to the United States and had to learn English.  I told him about an adventure we had when we lived in Mexico.  We used to rent movies even though the sound would be in Spanish.  They had English subtitles.  Anyway one time I rented the movie "Dona Flor and her Two Husbands" which was based on a novel by one of my favorite writers in those days, Jorge Amado.  But when I put the movie in the VCR and started watching it I couldn't figure it out.  Then I realized that Amado was Brazilian, as were the people who made the movie.  So the speeches were in Portugese and the sub-titles were in Spanish.  Fortunately we knew a bit of Spanish and had read the book so we were able to follow along.  I always thought Portugese sounded like Spanish as spoken by a German!

One of my blogger buddies, Joan Perry, has a great series of links on her site today for people who might want to contribute to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  You can find her links here.  If you have a few extra bucks those folks could use it.

I'm about written out for today so here's today's Gratuitous Critter picture.

Just horsin' around.  That might make a good picture for Mothers' Day.

Have a good weekend, y'all!

DAY OF THE DEAD

It is November 1st and the marking of the Day of the Dead is upon us.  I have an artwork that I purchased some years ago in Jerome, framed and hung on the wall of my office.  SWMBO hates it, for some unknown reason, but I've always liked it.

Just in case you're not familiar with this particular day . . it is said to be the day when the spirits of our dead relatives and friends come back to visit.  In Mexico we went one year to a graveyard on the Dia de los Muertos.  People come to the graves of their departed ones and have a picnic, with tacos, beans, tequila and whatnot.  This can go on for 24 hours.  It is not a period of mourning but rather to remember the ones who have passed on and to celebrate their lives.  Guitars are strummed and people sing favorite songs.  I think it's kind of a nice idea, to spend one day remembering the good things about the ones who have gone to their graves before us.

Halloween 2012 fini

Here are a couple of the trick or treaters who visited our home last night.

We had a grand total of only nine youngsters ringing our bell last night.  I always want to be prepared for more so I bought a box of 100 Tootsie Pops in preparation.  SWMBO, who was in charge of answering the door, encouraged everyone to take two.  I figure that's 18 passed out, leaving us with a basket containing 82 more.

As SWMBO said this morning, "Now what are you gonna do?"

Since I'm not a big fan of Tootsie Pops, I had no answer.

Maybe today's gratuitous critters can help.

Somebody snuck into this picture, I think, wearing his Halloween mask!

HALLOWEEN 2012

It's that time of year again.  Time for the spooks to come out.  Mt. Vernon Street in Prescott awaits with frightening decorations for the annual influx of thousands of trick-or-treaters.



Down on Whiskey Row, the Jersey Lilly has a new doorman.

And the bartender looked somewhat horrible.



Downstairs at the Palace, the BRD and her Beau Jack (background) celebrated Halloween with their annual private party Saturday night.

Here are some of their guests.



Over at the Firehouse Kitchen there were more revelers, looking a bit fuzzy.  (Ghosts?  Or cocktails?)

Back on the street a man was wearing an appropriate for Halloween shirt.



He said his mother gave it to him!

Speaking of shirts, a local cab driver was wearing one advertising free rides home tonight for those revelers who didn't bring along a designated driver.  Good idea.



Nearby, an English bulldog was taking it all in with just a touch of green-eyed envy.

And today, we'll let him be the subject of the gratuitous critter picture.

Happy Halloween, everybody.  Stay safe.

THE OLD WEST IS ALIVE AND WELL

I stopped in the Palace Saloon last Saturday evening and spotted a couple more old timers dedicated to keeping the days of the Old West alive for the present generation.

And just outside, a quartet alighted from a cab (not a stagecoach) preparing for a night of liquid refreshment, apparently.



Of course it is nearly Halloween and a number of costume events were going on in the Whiskey Row saloons.  More on that tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's today's gratuitous critter picture.

And one suggestion from President Barack Obama: you might consider a donation at this time to the Red Cross, which is performing yeoman duty back East in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

MONDAY TREATS

The East Coast of the United States is under attack from Mother Nature today and probably for the rest of the week.  Our thoughts are with the people suffering under the effects of what is being called a Super Storm.

To lighten the mood, I offer today not one, not two, but three gratuitous critter pictures.



OLD TIME LUXURY

Look what I found as I was ambling about on Whiskey Row in Prescott last night.

That's a highly-polished 1946 Cadillac, as advertised by it's license plate.



SWMBO told me later it was one of the first generation of new cars built in peacetime after World War Two.  The rear compartment had a bench seat plus a jump seat facing it.  Lots of leg room.

A beautiful car with that big V Cadillac emblem front and rear.



And, yes, that is the ghostly image of your correspondent behind the V.

But the emblem more favored by young (and old) men rides at the front of the hood.



The flying goddess. Beautiful bit of streamlining.

And speaking of beautiful, here's today's gratuitous critter picture.



SATURDAY SALMAGUNDI

A friend posted a photo of this sign on Facebook.  I may have to make one up for our front door.

I particularly like the line about thin mints.

It is definitely autumn in Arizona.  Here's the evidence.



Only 10 more days until this year's election season is over.  Joy, joy, joy.  I only watch the evening news and while I read a lot on the Internet and look at a lot of political polls, I only put my trust in Nate Silver, who has a magnificent blog on the New York Times.  He is much less hyper than Fox News or MSNBC or the two campaigns.  And he correctly picked the winner in 49 of the 50 states in 2008 as well as picking the winner in each of the 35 Senate contests that year.  So rant away, supporters of both sides, I'll take Nate Silver.

What follows is a gratuitous critter picture.

"Uh, what are you looking for?"

FRIDAY FUN

A friend of mine up in the far eastern part of Canada, Wanda Dawn Drover, tweaked me on Facebook recently.

Well, here's what I had for dinner last night.



Tangerine topped pork loin scallopini!

O.K. Wanda Dawn, take a breath, the suspense is over.

Incidentally, she's a gorgeous girl who takes great photographs.

 Changing the subject just a bit, I caught my big black boy cat, Blackwell, taking a nap on my bed yesterday.

He quite obviously loves it when he can catch a ray of sunlight on his belly to warm him even further.



Blackwell is an all-black cat but the sunlight on his fur makes him appear to be black and white.

That nap looks good.  Maybe I'll join him.

FALL FLOWERS

Anybody know what these are?

The blossoms are shaped like daisies but I don't think that's what they are, especially with this burst of color.  I found them in a yard near the BRD's residence that is quite nicely landscaped.

The following photo is a gratuitous critter picture, not taken by me.



"I've told you before: don't play in the street!"

IT'S A 41!

I saw this while I was out running* around today.



Well, you know me.  Never run to resist taking a photo of a classic car.  As you can see by the license plate frame, this is a 1941 Chevrolet.  And it's a beauty.



The proud owner told me he had done all the restoration work himself.  And it only took him 10 years!

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* - Running is a figure of speech.  It's been quite a few years since this lad did any "running" around.