HOW LONG MUST THIS GO ON?

"These people have made many rules that the rich may break but the poor may not.  They take tithes from the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule."

--Chief Sitting Bull

speaking at the Powder River Council

1877

MATTY

He used to come and spar with Blackwell through the pane of a slider door.

Matty.

A cat who belongs to our neighbor.

Doug had told me once that Matty is well fed at home but insists on coming into houses and begging for food.

Well.

SWMBO, also known as The Softie, said that he looked so pitiful one day as he politely raised one paw as if to knock and uttered a plaintive soft "meow."

So she let him in.

Muggles shows interest in him but she pretty much ignores him these days.

Notice I said "days".

Yeah, he's become a regular visitor.

He follows us around in the kitchen, rubbing against our legs and calling in his soft voice.

But all he gets is an occasional taste of dry food from Muggles' bowl and he doesn't seem to care for that much.

So he wanders around, checking things out, playing viciously with a catnip snake, and finally he settles down for a nap on our couch before leaving to continue his neighborhood roaming.

He always goes to the exact same spot for his nap.

I wonder, do cats dream?  

Muggles certainly does, sometimes twitching in his sleep and waking up suddenly with a wide-eyed squawl.

I think Matty dreams too.

"Now if only they'd buy some of that tasty canned cat food!"

ABBREVIATIONS

Back in late 1991, we were ending 4+ years living in Mexico and moving back to the U.S.

Specifically to Austin, Texas.

We had picked Austin because once, on an earlier trip to visit the BRD in Tulsa, Oklahoma, we had stopped in Austin to see if we could buy a Sunday New York Times (NYT) anywhere.

Much to my amazement, they were sold from a dedicated box on the street!

I said to Judy, "If we ever move back to the States, we're moving to Austin where you can buy the New York Times from a newspaper box."

And so a couple of years later the time had come.

We had friends we had made in our Mexican sojourn living in Austin then and I called them for directions on how to get to their place.

Jordy (an abbreviation for his given name of Jordan) told me, "Come up I-35 and get off at the M.L.K."

"The WHAT?"

Jordy chuckled and said to exit at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and added "that's what everyone calls it, the M.L.K."

Well time moves on along.

Jordy is gone now and we long ago moved away from Austin and back to our beloved Arizona.

I get the Sunday New York Times delivered to my driveway now.

And I've become used to hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called M.L.K.

It's his day today.

DISTRESS OR PROTEST?

I stepped out of my garage this morning and was looking around the neighborhood when I spotted something strange.

One of my neighbors has a flagpole on his upper deck from which he flies our flag.

But today it appeared different.

In this somewhat fuzzy zoom-in you can see that the flag is being flown upside down.

That is a sign of distress.

But everything else about his home appeared normal so I began to wonder if he was flying it as a sign of distress or as a protest.

Considering that the federal government has been shut down for 4 weeks now it could be both.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Alright, already, Gentle Readers, I'm just going to forget all the bad things in the news for a brief respite from the darkness because today is . . .

And you know what that means.

It's time for The Friday Funnies!

Okay, had enough?

Oh, you haven't?

Well, maybe just one more then.

Or two.

That's it.

I can't be amusing you folks all day, can I?

Now listen up.

I'm anticipating that all of you ambidextrous automotons will apply antiperspirant and amble in an accelerated manner, putting aside the astonishment of apoplectic assistants, and have an adventure of a weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(oooooohhhh, so grouchy)

Mencken Wisdom

"The only way a reporter should look at a politician is down."

H.L. Mencken

"The Sage of Baltimore"

1880 - 1956

SO LONG, DOLLY

Carol Channing

January 31, 1921 - January 15, 2019