SPINNING OUT OF THE PAST

I was surprised to receive an email from my nephew Larry, of Minot, North Dakota today.

He said he had just finished restoring a bicycle that belonged to my cousin Cherie.

He had retrieved it from a loft in a shed that had to be torn down after a flood a few years ago.

Cherie said she believed the bike dated back to around 1949.  

When she (who just celebrated another birthday) and I were 9 years old!

The bicycle had a police bicycle license on it that was dated 1956.

Larry said everything on he bike was original except for the tires and that it now rode as good as new.

However, that was when bikes were bikes and he said at 52-plus pounds it was really only good for riding downhill!

And here's the real treat for me - a photo of Cherie and her bike along with my only sibling, my brother Wayne, who will turn 85 in less than a week!

Something about those Norsky North Dakotans seems to keep them young at any age.

CLOUD ON FIRE

It's only lit by the setting sun but it looks like a painting.

BAKING, MORE BAKING, GRILLING, FINE EATING

I began the day, after watching the final round of the British Open golf tournament aka "The Open", by baking a couple of loaves of English Muffin Bread.

Later in the day, SWMBO demonstrated her skill by making a Plum and Cherry Crumble.

And then, just to show off even more, she grilled chicken and corn on the cob this evening.

Dinner was incredible and we were so stuffed we have not yet sampled the fruit crumble dessert.

We have decided we may have that for breakfast tomorrow.

She said, "We're old now.  We can do that."

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Against all odds, and the latest Tweets, it is time once again to have a little fun and test those age wrinkles smile lines in our faces.

What better time than right now (time may differ depending on when you read this) for some advice about drinking, right?

Or dieting.

Or relaxation in public.

Or budgeting.

Well, I could go on and on but maybe I'll just take this advice on that.

Now one last bit of advice from the Catalyst: go out there and have a grand, gracious, grandiloquent, non-grating weekend full of ginning and grinning.

And don't forget to laugh!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(uh-oh)

R.I.P. BLACKWELL

I sent our beloved cat Blackwell to his reward this afternoon.

He had grown ill and stopped eating several weeks ago.

He drank water but, as far as we could tell, consumed no food and he grew smaller and weaker.

Today when he slipped while turning around on the window shelf in front of me I finally accepted that his time had come.

The Yavapai Humane Society handled his passing.

We'll miss him.

In an earlier, better time

STARTING A NEW WEEK

This Monday isn't all that bad.

At least the sun is shining.

I just checked my nearest Weather Underground reporting station and the precipitation total from yesterday's thunderstorm has risen from 0.67 to 0.82 of an inch.

Still less than an inch but rain can be spotty and the local newspaper estimates there may have been up to 2 inches in the hardest hit areas.

At any rate there are cattle lying down in the damp grass of the field near us and most of the water has either run off or soaked into the ground.

I was awake from roughly 2:00 to 4:00 this morning and foolishly turned my computer on.

So, in spite of a couple of naps, I'm kind of punchy today.

Therefore, school is let out and you may now return to your regularly scheduled broadcast: The Horrors of Helsinki.

WHEN IT RAINS IN ARIZONA

If you've been paying attention over the past few years you know that Arizona and much of the Southwest and the Far West of the United States have been in drought conditions.

Here's what happens when we get a lot of rain in a short period of time like we did this afternoon.

That and all of the waterlogged areas you'll see in the following photos are a normally tinder-dry field just a very short distance from where we live.

Fortunately we live uphill from where all this water is flowing and collecting but some people further down the hill may not have been so lucky.

We saw fire crews out blocking the roads through a low-lying area.

Our thoughts are with folks who may live down there.

Incidentally, the nearest Weather Underground reporting station, less than half a mile from our house, lists just over two-thirds of an inch of rain from this afternoon's thunderstorm.