COMPETITION

Apparently it's my own fault.

I allowed it to happen.

I kind of wish I hadn't.

It's about my window directly in front of me looking out onto the bird bath.

You see, our cats don't get to go outside.

Oh, Blackwell will violate that rule if he gets a chance to sneak past us.

We call him our escape cat.

But he has a fascination with the great outdoors and can spend long periods of time at a window.

And then there's the single-minded love he seems to have for me.

At least that's what SWMBO believes.

He does follow me around the place, seeking a lap whenever I sit down.

So he began jumping up with a quick stop on the edge of my desk to sit in the window in front of my computer screen.

He stays there as long as I am tap-tap-tapping away on my keyboard.

I had to call his name to get him to turn around for the photo above.

He gazes at the yard, chitters at some of the birds though not all of them, and maybe dozes in the sun.

Well the desk I work at is quite small and he occasionally uses my arm as a launching pad.

This morning I got tired of his presence and chased him away.

But he was lurking, preparing to jump up again.

So I needed something to block his path.

And I found it.

The Guard Panda!

Blackwell sulked off to his spot on SWMBO's bed.

At least for the time being.

P.S.  He missed a great show when three, count 'em, three fat doves all arrived at the bird bath at the same time.

I'll bet his mouth would still be watering.

REALLY?

Spotted on a short walk near my house.

What, one wonders, IS a sanitary sewer?

I wouldn't think any sewer is really sanitary.

Maybe those big ones in the movie "The Third Man" which starred Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles among others.

Welles played a mysterious post-World War Two crook (Harry Lime) in Vienna and sneaked around the city using the big underground sewers.

But I digress.

Checking with the All-Knowing Google I learn that a sanitary sewer is a system of underground pipes that takes kitchen and bathroom waste from homes and businesses to a wastewater treatment plant where it is filtered, treated and released.

Apparently it is so-named to distinguish it from a storm sewer, which carries rainfall and other drainage.

So there you are.

Now you (and I) know probably all we ever wanted to know about sewer systems.

And now, to lighten the mood a bit, here's the theme music from that movie, played on the zither by Anton Karas.

Some other time I'll explain what a zither is.

ON THE RIVER

Today brings us another thrilling episode in the Exciting and Fabulous Adventures of the BRD (Beautiful Rich Daughter).

This time it's kayaking on the Verde River in Central Arizona.

Yes the BRD (center above) and a gang of her pals actually did get those watercraft into the water.

It was all to mark a birthday of one of her cohorts, the indefatigable Susie.

The BRD said it was a five mile excursion marked by a high wind.

That was NOT evident in the pictures I saw.

It looks pretty placid to me.

Of course, maybe the hurricane force winds and rushing rapids prevented the photographer from taking pictures during those rough times.

The BRD said if she hadn't been working out prior to the tour she might not have been able to get back and would have died on a sandbar . . . not the kind of bar she would like to die at.

So paddle fiercely, Gayle, show us your best stuff!

TOM MIX COUNTRY

Tom Mix, a cowboy movie star in the early third of the 20th Century, has quite a history with the area where I live in Arizona.

But let me tell you a little of Mr. Mix's history.

He was born in Pennsylvania, enlisted in the army during the Spanish-American War but never went overseas and was declared AWOL after failing to return from a furlough, during which he married his first of five wives.

He went to Oklahoma and kicked around as a bartender and other odd jobs before finding employment with a huge ranch that had its own touring Wild West show.

Mix performed as a horseman and expert shot and won rodeo competitions in (surprise!) Prescott, Arizona, just beyond Glassford Hill from where I live.

Mix launched his movie career in 1909 and appeared in nearly 300 movies in his lifetime, all except nine silent films.

In his off-screen appearances, Mix was a dapper dresser, usually seen wearing a huge white ten gallon hat.

Mix bought a ranch in Prescott and competed frequently in what is known locally as "the world's oldest rodeo", winning a bull riding competition when he was 40 years old.

A number of his films were shot in the Prescott area.

It is said that along with the ladies, Tom Mix was fond of drink and that may have led to his demise.

After spending time visiting a friend in Tucson, Mix was speeding north toward Phoenix in his 1937 Cord automobile.

He was unable to stop when he encountered a barricade where a bridge had been washed out by a flash flood and when his car flipped over, a suitcase full of money and jewelry struck and killed him.

There's a plaque and monument at the site.

He was 60 years old.

The area where his ranch was is now part of a planned community where the BRD's Beau Jack lived for many years.

(Much of the history in this post is courtesy of Wikipedia.)

FRIDAY FUNNIES

Is it really that time again?

Why yes, I believe it is.

Wow!  Does that make your head hurt too?

Let's dance quickly and blithely along then and get away from it.

I think it's time once again, Gentle Readers, for some more signs of the times.

Brace yourselves.

Just remember these wise words from someone who has made mistakes in the past.

All right Gentle Readers and aficionados of Internet humor (or humour) everywhere, let us all go out into the world and have a fahntahsticly fine weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

THURSDAY NIGHT DINNER

Oddly enough, no photos exist of tonight's meal.

I prepared about half of it.

Pepper Steak (steak au poivre) that I grew to love at a French restaurant (Restaurante Pierre) when we lived in Guadalajara, Mexico.

I learned to make it at home.

Tonight's meal was accompanied by a baked Russet potato topped with butter and sour cream and salt and pepper, asparagus, and a wonderful mixed salad, courtesy SWMBO.

She doesn't love steak like I do (though she does love this preparation) so it's a rare treat.

A little red wine, after aperitifs of whiskey and water and vodka and water, and (for me) an after touch of Sambucca straight up.

She topped her meal off with a bit of Death by Chocolate ice cream.

Do we dine well?

Yes, I think we do.

(Sorry for the absence of pictures.)

AN UPDATE

It's been awhile since I have updated y'all on my wife's progress since she broke her femur (thighbone).

Monday marked the four-month anniversary of the fall on our (new) back patio.

Tuesday was the anniversary of the surgery that implanted a titanium rod from her hip to her knee of her right leg.

It's been a long haul but today I can report that she went to a doctor appointment, then we went to lunch and then to a lengthy grocery shopping excursion.

Judy/SWMBO left her walker at home for the first time and used only a cane and occasionally my arm to ambulate.

She did use an electric cart in the grocery store but that has predated her fall and even I have occasionally used one.

These old bodies sometimes aren't made for walking.

Then I told Judy about a young mother I had seen in the grocery store.

She was slim and lithe and at one point noticed the laces on her high-top sneaker were loose.

She didn't bend over . . she raised that leg and calmly tied the laces while standing like a flamingo and carrying on a conversation with a store employee.

Some days the amazing wonders of youth are just a bit much to take.