Big. Bigger. Biggest!

Roberts Marketplace, out here in Prescott Valley, finally got a flag up their brand new flagpole in front of their brand new store recently.

As I gazed at it with wonder, I couldn't help thinking - - is it

a. Advertising . . a banner designed to lure folks in to the store and gas station,

b. A sign of the patriotic fervor of the store owner,

or

c. A stick it in your eye display that says "Mine's bigger than yours!"

Life is curious

I talked on the telephone to my brother last night. It was because of my birthday. We talked for over an hour. It was a good conversation. But we are so different. He is a conservative, I am a liberal. He has become religious, at least church going, I am an atheist. But we still had a good conversation. Strange, how things happen.

YeGods, another birthday!

Truth be told, I have commemorated yet another year on this soil. I won't say which year it was but suffice it to say that the numbers are mounting. Nevertheless, I feel much the same as I have felt for years, nay decades. I know the years are growing and the supposed physical complaints are increasing but most of the time I don't notice them.

SWMBO and I have just returned from a wonderful Italian repast at a local dining establishment, provided in part by the generosity of a friend who supplied me with a gift card. We both dined on something called Lasagna Rollatini in a sauce . . . mine with Italian sausage, hers with chicken breast. And at my insistence, we topped off the meal with more than enough Zeppoli . . . which SWMBO describes as fried dough. Coated in sugar with a chocolate dipping sauce on the side, I found it quite salutory. My companion complained throughout (while devouring one or two of them!) A too pricey bottle of Kendall Jackson wine completed the feast. And now we're safe home to begin the search for yet another year of survival. So it goes.
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I snapped a photo in our neighborhood the other day of a resident Roadrunner. He was a fair distance away so when the picture was cropped and blown up, he becomes a bit hazy. But for those of you who have never seen one of these strange creatures, here he is.

The BRD loves weird art!

I was over at the BRD's house today to feed her cats while she's away. SWMBO had been there yesterday and asked me if I'd seen the new birdhouses in the backyard. I hadn't until today but here they are.

Now I ask you, would any self-respecting bird deign to enter such a strange contraption as either of those? Although there are entry holes toward the bottom of each of these Gaudi-inspired structures, I hesitate to think a bird would trust either one of them.

But it's just the latest in a constant menagerie of rather strange objets d'art that fill and overflow her home.

This is, after all, the home of the infamous Blue Monkey.

And there's this rather dopey but lovable looking dog . . one of two.

I have ceased to put rhyme or reason to any of it but just enjoy each new item as it arrives on the scene. Actually, it's kind of nice having a step-daughter with such a whimsical sense of art.

Thought you might like to see how I spent my last week of idleness while my computer, (the dirty b--t-rd), was in the repair shop.


I read a lot, as SWMBO was delighted to show.

You will perhaps notice that I appear to be wearing two pairs of glasses. SWMBO was even more delighted to photograph that oddity.

You see, I recently had cataract surgery on my right eye. While we're waiting (and waiting) for the follow-up doctor appointment and new vision prescription, one eye works great, the other one sucks. So I am wearing my reading glasses, topped with a pair of simple magnifiers from the drug store. The combination allowed me to actually make out the words on the page.

Let me tell you, there is truth in all those bromides about "old age ain't for sissies", et al.

Well, let me tell you, there is nothing in such times of woe as the love of a good . . . . . . cat! My pal, Jazz, who cannot allow me to be seated without seeing (there's that damned word again) advantage of a warm lap. I like to say she loves me. But warmth and comfort may be the true meaning of her closeness.

But it doesn't matter to me. At my advanced age, I'll take what I can get.

Back. At last!

Sheesh! Ten entire days without a computer. Folks, let me tell you. It was painful. It was frustrating. It was nearly mind destroying.

But you know what? After the first couple of days with the knowledge that nothing was going to be done about it for awhile, I slowly adjusted to it and to a slower, quieter time in the past. Before electricity and running water. When we used to go down to the stream and fish away the days, hoping against hope that we'd get a bite. When we used to go down to the park and toss the old baseball around the field. When we used to play something involving a chant of Allee-Allee-Oxen-Free or something like that.

In short, it was ten days of stifling boredom!

But now, I'm back. Mostly. I know the more technically savvy of you, my readers, will be happy to know that I went to the store today and bought an external hard drive that reportedly will hold 500 gigabytes of information and thus back up everything I have written or stored on the various computers I've owned over the last 20 some years and will write or store until the end of time. Better to be safe than sorry. Again. Of course, it's still sitting here in an unopened box but I'll get to it.

I was just wondering one thing as I was driving home and I forgot to ask the young whelp who sold me the thing. What do I do if THAT hard drive crashes?

Further Update

Another day without a computer. The new hard drive that was supposed to arrive today . . . . didn't.

The service man said "We'll try again Friday."

So begins week two with me computerless at home.

Thanks to the town for the use of Internet computers at the public library.

Stay tuned.