Je Suis Charlie

ONE WORD WEDNESDAY

SNOW MELT . . OR NOT

After a day or two of snowy weather last week, the back yard looked like this.

But cold weather and snow never last very long in Arizona and today, with the temperature in the 50's for the second day in a row, most of the snow is gone.

Last week, the front yard looked like this.

And today . . .

Well, ahem.  The difference comes in the direction the house faces. The front yard lies to the north and is protected from the low-hanging winter sun by shade from the house.  The back yard is nearly fully exposed to the sunlight so the snow disappears there first.

All of which won't make a darned bit of difference next August.

Last week when we were having our snowy, cold days the rest of the country was enjoying mild weather.  Today it's just the opposite. Down here in the southwest corner of the country, it is usually warm and storms like last week's occur rarely.

Which made me think of something else that has irked me for a time. Take a look at this map of the United States.

Take a look at Texas.  How do people get away with saying that state is part of the Great Southwest?  To me, it looks like it's in the South, an area that more aptly should be named the Southeast.  And when I lived in Indiana, that part of the country was called the Midwest.  Who do they think they're kidding?  Indiana obviously resides in the eastern third of the country. Seems like they should say it's in the Middle East.  But then that could be confusing, too, (said the old grouch as he went off to bury himself in his maps.)

THE BEARD - #6

Now it's starting to look like a beard.

VICTORIANS

Here are a couple of the famous Victorian houses dating back to Prescott's early days.

This one was built by Henry Goldwater, an uncle of the late Senator Barry Goldwater.  He came to Prescott from Yuma, married a school teacher who raised money from the Carnegie's and local residents for the town's first library, ran a cigar store on Whiskey Row and worked with his brothers in their eponymous store just down the hill from this house.  He was also somewhat of an inventor but he moved on, to California.

The house is now a vacational rental.

A NOT-SO-CRAVEN RAVEN

There are many ravens in this part of Arizona.  Many people mistake them for crows but there is a distinct difference.

This one was perched on a light fixture when I passed by.  He was so brazen as to stay there even as I stopped and took his picture from only a few feet away.

Inside the community center I showed the photo to the young lady working the desk and she told me it was one of a pair that apparently have roosted on the roof.  She said she had looked up ravens in a text and learned that they are generally monogamous and mate for life.  

That can mean around 20 years for ravens in the wild though the famous birds that live at the Tower of London have been known to live for 40 years.  I remember seeing them there and hearing that because of the lore that if they ever leave the British Empire will fall the ravens wings are clipped so they can't fly away.

Our ravens, with their loud calls, seem to have no inclination to leave.

No.  Nevermore.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Here it is, folks, your brand new 2015 edition of the long-running, sometimes funny Friday Funnies.  We begin a near year with a look back at the last one.

A New Year's Day hangover.

Hey!  Who left the cat out??!!!

Have a great weekend, a fantastic 2015 and keep chuckling!

(And thanks to contributors and to those from who I stole!)