Oscars

So, I got 5 for 7. I missed on the Best Foreign Film, picking "The White Ribbon" to win and I went away from the favorite, Sandra Bullock, to pick Meryl Streep for Best Actress.

But . . . all in all . . . 5 for 7 isn't bad.

Me and my big mouth!

I should have known better.

Yesterday I was bragging to some friends back East that it was pushing 60 degrees here. This morning, it became evident that rain had fallen during the night. And a little while ago . . . WHAT? SNOW? AGAIN? YeGods!

Now the good part is that it's warm enough that most of it is melting as soon as it hits the ground. But it is sticking on other things. Like the car. And the garbage can lids. And the satellite dish. THE SATELLITE DISH? Yes, and once it gets a nice coating, our television service cuts out. And tonight is the Academy Awards telecast.

So I finally did something I'd been told about once and kept putting off. I got the ladder out, climbed up to the satellite dish, brushed the snow off and then sprayed the entire surface with Pam Olive Oil cooking spray! I know. It sounds crazy. But I've been told that the slippery surface will then cause the snow to slide off and not stick. So far, so good. But we'll see. I have my fingers crossed.

Things feeling a little tight, John?

Clouds

Forgive me. I am captivated by clouds.

Recession? What recession?

Construction is speeding along on an orthpedics center on the "backside" of Prescott Valley.

Meantime, down at Glassford Hill Road and Lakeshore Drive, another project is underway. This, I am told, will be a Maverick service station and store.

(Sorry for the slanted photo . . I took it out the side window as I was driving by.)

In addition, but not pictured, a new doctors' office is being constructed in the growing medical center of Prescott Valley.

And another dollar store is about to break ground on the east side of P.V.

As my contact (a high-ranking city government official) said, "not bad for a recession economy."

Not bad, indeed.

Lily and Jet

The BRD and her beau spent a couple of R&R days in Scottsdale. SWMBO spent the two days at the BRD's house so her cats wouldn't get lonely. She snapped a few photos and here are a couple of my favorites. Jet (obviously) is the black boy cat. Lily, still showing a bare spot where she had her neutering (or is it spaying) surgery is carefully watching the camera.

Magpie Tales 3

This was a tough one. I couldn’t summon the muse at all, no matter how many times I looked at that damned picture of a kilo weight. Coming from a certain generation, I kept getting hung up on that word "kilo".

Back in the day . . . way back in the day . . . I have to confess to a momentary fascination with the effects of marijuana. It only lasted for a short time. A couple of days. Or was that weeks. Or months. Or years. I sort of forget. But it is far in the past now. (That makes me think of the scene in the movie "It’s Complicated" where Meryl Streep and Steve Martin are sharing a joint and one or the other of them says (approximately) "This sure is different from what we smoked 30 years ago!")

Anyway I had a friend . . . back in the day . . . who smoked way more than I did. One time he went to Hawaii and while there acquired a sizeable amount of what was known as Maui Wowie, much of which he brought back to the mainland in his wife’s suitcase. She didn’t know it was there until they got home and boy was she pissed at him.

He decided to share his wealth with me and mailed a package of it to me. It arrived at my home when no one was there, with his return address on the outside of the package. AND WITH POSTAGE DUE!!!

Now there’s a sidebar to this. Our yard at the time had a large number of snails. I had told him we were going to gather them up, purge them by feeding them cornmeal and then cook them up for an escargot feast. Snails . . . or garden slugs, as he insisted on calling them . . . were not his cup of tea. But when he was in Hawaii, he toured a botanical garden and took an extreme close-up photo of the biggest snail I’ve ever seen. In the picture which topped off his "gift", it looked about the size of an old Buick.

Well, the good news is the postman didn’t open the package, we paid the postage due, we didn't "process" the snails and the rest is lost to history.

Until Willow’s photo prompt for Magpie Tales 3. And the only thing I could think of was this little limerick.

The mailman while making his rounds,
Brought a package that brings joyful sounds,
A box of fresh weed
All foil-wrapped, indeed,
A kilo that weighs two-plus pounds.

And if that's not enough, you can join in and/or read much more from more talented writers at Magpie Tales 3