SUNNY ARIZONA

 

It may be sunny but it's only 37 chilly degrees!

SNOWY ARIZONA

 At the risk of beating a dead horse (sorry PETA), I feel compelled to tell you that Flagstaff, Arizona has recorded just shy of 58 inches of snow this month.

That's only 23 days into the New Year and it's already the fourth most snow ever recorded in a January and third place is within reach.

I was provoked by opening the blinds this morning and discovering that there was a fresh dusting, and it was only a dusting, of snow on the ground around my home.

Now we don't get anywhere near the snowfall that Flagstaff does because the elevation here is right around 5,000 feet and Flagstaff is almost 2,000 feet higher.

It is considered a mountain town but it's only about 140 miles north of Phoenix, which is considered to be in the desert.

And Phoenix is where one finds the cactus and the extremely high temperatures of summer through several months of the year.

Now I live in Prescott Valley about halfway between the two cities, even though our elevation is closer to Flagstaff than it is to Phoenix.

So we get views like this from the edge of town.

Those are the snow-topped Black Hills and not the ones that house Mount Rushmore.

Those are in South Dakota, well to the north of here.

The two highest peaks are Woodchute Mountain and Mingus Mountain.

For whatever reason, most people just refer to the whole range as Mingus Mountain.

As you can see from these pictures, the snow stops accumulating about halfway down the mountains.

I took these photos this morning and, as you can see, the sky to the north is looking dark and stormy so Flagstaff could get more snow today and tonight.

And so ends our climatology report for today.

SAT'R'DAY

 To those of you who expressed concern about my eye surgery yesterday, rest assured that I am, indeed, alive and well after the grueling episode.

Actually I exaggerate.

It wasn't grueling at all except for a few seconds when the fancy, dancy laser beam was repairing one end of my retinal tear and came close to a nerve.

But the rest of the roughly 10 minute procedure was a breeze.

I don't think my vision is quite as good as indicated by this piece of office decor at the clinic where my "work" was done but then I've used it (my vision)  for many, many years.

Now, on another note, I knew the "Alice Kramden" reference in one of yesterday's cartoons would go over the heads of any young readers I might have but I had forgotten that it might also evade the understanding of my visitors from outside of the United States.

So let me explain.

Back in the early days of television here in the United States, there was a comedy show called "The Honeymooners", which starred Jackie Gleason.

Gleason played a bus driver in Brooklyn named Ralph Kramden who had a volatile but comic temper.

On many episodes he would blow up during arguments with his wife Alice, played by Audrey Meadows, and making a fist he would mime a punch and bellow at her something like "One of these days, Alice, POW! Right in the kisser!"

One of his favorite lines was "To the moon, Alice, to the moon!", implying that he would hit her hard enough to send her to the moon.

She was never alarmed by these threats and would usually respond with "Aw, shaddup," i.e. "shut up".

Anyway that's how, in the cartoon yesterday, Alice Kramden beat the U.S. astronauts to the moon.

Sorry for the confusion, Gentle Readers.

Oh, and if you're so inclined, you can find a short video clip of Ralph and Alice by Googling: "to the moon, Alice".

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 Isn't this fun?

Just living through the week, counting the seconds, minutes, hours, days and nights until you can open up my blog and learn that IT'S FRIDAY AGAIN!!!

Well, it sure is for me.

Fun, that is.

As well as Friday.

I suppose I could begin each one of these weekly forays into funniness by just saying TGIF and launching the cartoons.

But that's not my way.

I like to amble aimlessly into the arcade of amusement.

Keeping you all in suspense for a bit

Before I say the magic words.

No, not "Shazam" or "Abracadabra" or "Presto".

No, the words "HIT IT!"

Awwwww-right!

Now you're feelin' better, aren't ya'?

I'm off to the eye surgeon who's going to blast my right eye with the killer laser ray to repair (he says) a horseshoe-shaped tear in my retina.

I'll be seeing you (he said pluckily).

But whatever, have yourselves an absolutely extravagantly sensational weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(aw, c'mon . . .)

HE'S DONE IT AGAIN!

 Oh, the elves have been busy this week, filling my Humor Archives to a gut-busting level.

One of the most active is a long-time friend, known here only as Wacky Wally.

Earlier in the week he informed us of an odds on day far in the future.

Today, he has offered up another sly observation.

An oddball observation, some might say.

But let's say no more about it.

Let's just show you what his curious mind has found.

 I don't know about you but I love these things.

Thanks again, Wally.

DOCTOR VISITS

 This post is for those of you who may have added on some years.

In other words, you who have grown older

I have found that it seems thast the older I get the less healthy I become.

I can't decide if that's just a natural progression or an accumulation of illness brought about by the past sins I committed and challenges I foisted on my poor body.

But I know as I've aged it seems I have more and more doctors and more and more visits to keep up with.

When the people in my cardiology office tell me I've got 7 or 8 or 9 years until my Pacemaker's battery will run down and I'll need to have the device changed I think (and sometimes say) "Do you people know how old I am?"

What makes them think I'll live that long?

But I don't want to put you in a dark mood as the sun is finally shining in my town today.

So let me share something another one of my hard-working elves, Comical Carol, provided to me this morning.

It plays on ANOTHER problem with Modern Day (Witchcraft) Medicine.

Let's all keep on laughing!

I CAN'T WAIT

 One of my chief elves, Wonderful Wacky Wally has been probing the internet again and came up with this wonderfully wacky factoid that seems just right for today.