TIGER TIME

 I was intrigued to learn that today is the Day of The Tiger.

It's especially interesting to me because I had an older brother who was given the nickname "Tiger" when he was in high school.

Apparently it was bestowed on him by a coach for his ferocity on the basketball court, the baseball diamond or the football field.

As I recall, he wasn't particularly talented but he didn't let that stand in his way.

He played with passion, shall we say.

He was 7 years older than I was and my only sibling and in our younger days we were constant companions.

When he was involved with sports in high school I used to follow him around to practices and that same coach nicknamed me "Little Tiger".

That became "Little Tige" and later I changed it to "Cougar".

At any rate, here we are.

Shoveling snow off the sidewalk in front of our home in North Dakota.

Posing for a family picture with our Dad.

Wayne "Tiger" Taylor's high school graduation picture.

Two brothers surveying his garden in Minot, North Dakota in the late 1980's.

Wayne lived to see his 90th birthday but died only a few months later.

Good to see you again, Tiger.

I bet you never thought there would be a day named after you.

LUCKY MAN

My wife, as regular readers know, is a master of cuisine.

French, Italian, Chinese . . whatever the flavors . . she can do it.

Without looking at a recipe, as I do slavishly.

It's all in her head.

So, without further ado, let me show you what she created in our kitchen today.

Shrimp in a garlic lemon sauce.

I asked her what gave it the orange appearance.

Smoked paprika, she said.

Just to give you a better look, before I devoured it . .

You must trust me.

The "bubble pasta" (Israeli couscous); the salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avocado in Italian dressing; the Sea Salt breadsticks, the Pinot Noir wine . . . are your mouths watering yet?

It was devastatingly delicious.

As I said above, I'm a lucky man.

FIRST HARVEST

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

So you think YOU'VE got problems?

Yesterday was National Tequila Day and I forgot 'ta margarita!

Ooooohhh, I'm sorry.

It was only a shot in the dark.

Okay, I'm double sorry.

Did someone say "doubles"?

That's it.

My stand-up comedy hopes have fallen flat.

So let's see what the Humor Elves have produced this week.

Hey, wait a minute!  You guys aren't the Trekkies!

Oh boy, maybe I should just have left well enough alone.

At any rate, that's all I've got this Friday.

So you poor suffering souls who read this stuff each week try to enjoy yourselves and have a remarkably fantastic weekend!

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . suspicions confirmed! . . . )

ARRIBA!

Just in case you've forgotten, (and you'll have forgotten tomorrow for sure), today is National Tequila Day!

Ole!

T'MATERS!

This year's iteration of our tomato barrel is producing fruit like crazy.

We have two plants in it; a yellow pear tomato and a larger red tomato whose name I can't remember.

These are some of the yellow pear tomatoes.

Yes, I know they're not yellow and that's because they're not ripe yet.

But we have pulled a couple of golden ones so far.

The other vine also has a lot of fruit including one nearly-ripe-enough-to-pick one, trying to hide in the foliage.

Don't tell me about the drooping leaves.

SWMBO already has instructed me on that and after these pictures were taken I got right on it and watered them.

I'll say it again (and again, probably):

"Ain't nothing quite as good as home-grown tomatoes!"

SKY PUFFS

Yesterday was a day for lying on one's back in a grassy field, staring at the sky.

Since I'm too far from a grassy field and couldn't get up if I did lie down in one, I had to content myself with these random photos I snapped.

Dream on, cloud watchers.

Oh and for the curious among you, yes the blue bag is still stuck up there.

Or at least shards of it.

Because of the limitations of my phone's camera, probably only the eagle-eyed among you can pick them out.