ALL TOGETHER NOW

This may not seem odd to you but it is rare when all three of our cats occupy the same territory.  Muggles and Blackwell are normally all right with it.  Muggles and Jazz are all right with it.  Muggles and Blackwell are definitely NOT all right with it.  Blackwell takes Jazz' spite in stride but if he's in the area Jazz usually wants to be somewhere else.

That's why SWMBO was stunned this morning when all three chose her bed for a mid-morning nap.



HONEY, OH HONEY

The continuing saga of . . .

. . . the honeysuckle vine . . .

. . . and it's eagle-eyed observer . . .

. . . il comandante!



BIRD BRAINS

The BRD says robins are stupid because you can practically walk up and touch them.  I think they're bold.  And sassy.

Now, mourning doves.  They are dumb.



TINKLE, TINKLE

My patio cover, with wind chimes and wind.

THE PRODUCER

Have you ever wondered what a television news producer does to earn a living?  Well, here's your answer: smoke constant cigarettes (maybe not so much anymore) and talk on the telephone.



That's me at the Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas, in 1984.  Outside it was very hot and humid.  Inside the convention building it was ice cold, air conditioned to the point of death.  It needed to be that way in the huge auditorium to counteract the hot television lighting.  But this was a workroom away from the convention floor and the only lighting, as I recall, was fluorescent.  But . . air condition one, air condition them all.

Consequently I caught a cold the first day (of about ten) that we were there and wore that windbreaker and the nice Stetson hat I bought on the first day for the entire tour of duty.  It was a miserable week.  But . . . I did look pretty sharp, didn't I?

ECLIPSE



BEGONIAS



I asked SWMBO what these blossoms were called and she told me "begonias".  That's be-GON-yas with a long O.  Whenever I hear a word like that it takes me back to a trip I took some years ago with my friend Steve.  I'll call him Baseball Steve to distinguish him from other Steves and Stephens who read this blog.  Baseball Steve is the guy who has treated me to many Diamondbacks games.

Anyway, we made a trip one Fourth of July to the tiny town of Patagonia, in southern Arizona.  Patagonia is pronounced like begonia.

And that took me further back to a song I heard decades ago.  Turn up your sound, please, and listen to the mastery of B.B. King.