A NASTY WAY TO SEND OFF CHIPPER

Chipper Jones played his last game with the Atlanta Braves tonight after a 19 year career with just one team.  But his career ended on a sour note from his team's fans.

The game became controversial with a bad infield fly rule call that came late as the St. Louis shortstop and left fielder both failed to catch the ball.  Atlanta fans went berserk and held up the game for a long 19 minutes by tossing beer cans and liquor bottles on the field.



There is a tradition of fans growing angry at umpires' calls that go against their team.  But even though it appeared this was a terrible call, the terrible acts of a lot of Atlanta fans was even worse.  It makes me wonder if American fans are going the way of the soccer rowdies in Europe.

St. Louis won the game 6 to 3 and ended the Braves' season.

Atlanta's manager told the umpires he was officially playing the game under protest.  A ruling is expected later tonight.

POTPOURRI



"Ask not for whom the chime tolls, it tolls for thee." 

(Bowdlerized version of a John Donne poem refrain.)

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Well then, the debate.  Like virtually everyone who watched it with an open mind, I thought Romney stuffed the President.  Mr. Obama seemed professorial, bored, wishing he was somewhere else.  Romney was incredibly aggressive.  He won but today's Gallup tracking poll shows hardly any change in the President's 4 point lead over Romney.  So, do debates have any effect on the campaign?  It will have to be up to a much wiser political commentator than myself to tell.

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If you want to see an amazing video of a master kite flyer, hie thee over to my friend Warren's blog from Tucson - Touch the wind - and watch the show until the end.  Fantastic.

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If you want some real fantasy fun, plan on cyber-attending Tess Kincaid's annual ball at Willow Manor. 



You can meet anyone you've ever wanted to or even bring them yourself.  I hear Bobby Valentine is now free.  Maybe you could bring him.  Go here for all the details

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I finally got the movie Salmon Fishing in the Yemen today and watched it.  As a hopeless romantic, I give it 5 stars.  The other day I watched a 1979 flick A Little Romance, Diane Lane's first movie at the age of 13.  She co-starred with Laurence Olivier and the charming child actor Thelonious Bernard.  Bernard won a couple of awards, made one more movie and quit the business to resume his studies.  He went on to become a dentist and live quietly with his wife and children in France.

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O.K. lords and ladies.  That's my Thursday report.  Here's hoping your TGIF tomorrow is eventful and fun.

CLASSIC

I had to make a stop at the grocery store this morning and look what I found in the parking lot.



I don't think it's totally authentic.  Looked to me like there was some extra hardware under the (nonexistent) hood.



I had to double-park to quickly snap these pictures so I forgot to check on what kind of car it was.  Does anyone know?  The back license plate said either "Tom's 24" or "Tom's 29".

I know.  I used to be a much better reporter.

OLD FASHIONED TECHNOLOGY

I sent this picture to one of my granddaughters the other day.  She's a very intelligent girl who has a degree in International Studies after spending several years at a University in Israel.  But she's never used it and works now as a prison guard.  Well she says they're called corrections officers now but she still works in a state prison and carries a gun.  But her other job, which is self taught (I should have mentioned that she has the family gene for artistic prowess) is that as a tattoo artist.  So, as I said much earlier, I sent her this picture recently.

Being blessed also with a great sense of humor, she responded with a laugh and said she'd have to find one and put her own label on it.  She said she had one client who got a wedding band tattoo when he got married, then had it lasered off when he got divorced four months later.  Now he's asking her about a new tat for his new wife-to-be.  She said it reminded her of this Norman Rockwell painting.

She said those guys who constantly change their minds, as well as their wives or girlfriends, are great for business!

SATURDAY AT THE PALACE

When I was in Prescott the other day, I stopped at the Palace Saloon for a beer.  I took this picture in the mirror of the back bar.



The Palace is the centerpiece of Whiskey Row in Prescott.  There are a handful of other saloons along "the Row" but the Palace is the place for tourists and locals alike.  It's been up and down over the years.  Back in 1900 there was a fire that burned down pretty much the entire block.  Patrons of the Palace managed to carry the back bar across the street to the Courthouse Square where drinks continued to be served.  Later when the saloon was rebuilt the bar went back where it belonged.  It originally came to the Palace in the 1880's. 

Among the legendary names of former patrons are Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday, all of whom visited or lived in Prescott before moving on to Tombstone, Arizona. 

In present years the Palace has been restored to the grandeur of days

gone by.  But the Old West lives on.  Here are a couple of local characters I sat next to at the bar.

If you ever visit Prescott, Arizona, you have to stop in at the Palace.  I'll meet you there for a cold one.

1,200!!!

That's twelve hundred!  That's how many posts I've made to this blog, including this one.  Hard to believe.

And time marches on.  One could call this "What a difference a day makes."



Actually the two pictures were taken about 3 weeks apart but they show the contrariness of my mind.  SWMBO says she can't understand it.  I started growing the full beard at the height of the summer heat.  Then when the weather cooled off I shaved most of it off back to the goatee. 

The weather did not influence my decisions.  I don't know what did, really.  Curiousity, more than anything.  I wanted to see if I looked like Hemingway yet.  But, no, not white enough yet and since I'm now 72 it probably never will get that white.  So it goes.

IT'S A CORVETTE!

I took a drive into Prescott today to take a look at the Corvette show at the courthouse plaza.  There were hundreds of the cars parked on three sides of the plaza.



There were cars of just about every color known to man.



And some colors that were special mixes, like the purple and yellow combination on this replica of a 1998 Indianapolis 500 pace car.



And speaking of the Indy 500, there were some other cars on hand, like this 2012 Indy race car.



I used to work in Indianapolis so I've seen lots of race cars but I'm always struck by the tires.  I think they're called racing slicks.  No tread at all.



There also were a couple of relics from my era - like this one from 1949.

And the always beloved 57 Chevvy.

But today the Corvette was king.

The engine on this one stood up so high a specially designed hood had to be designed for it.



Although red seemed to be the most popular color I must say I was partial to the yellow ones.



Of as much interest to me as the cars were the clever personalized license plates their owners came up with.



So with that thought - I'm quicker - and the roar of hundreds of mighty engines, we say goodbye once again to Corvette-land.

HUGH HEFNER DAY IN P.V.

Yesterday, as noted earlier, was the first day of the Yavapai County Fair in Prescott Valley, Arizona. 

First, an historical note.  "Yavapai" is a Native American word, pronounced YAV-uh-pie.  It was the name of a tribe of Yavapai Apaches who lived in this area long before the white man came.

But on to the fair.  I always love the garish colors.

This vendor, "Sassy Lil Thangs", is a prime example.  I didn't even look at her various tsochkes but the colors certainly do get one's attention.

When I go to the fair with SWMBO, I have no doubt what she wants to see.

Just like Hugh Hefner.  BUNNIES!

There are other critters present.

Geese and ducks. 

Incidentally, the critters were caged inside a huge tent covering that had a lot of red in it.  Hence the tint.

There was a turkey or two.

There were goats.



There was even a tiny (and very pregnant) dwarf goat.

And lots and lots of sheep.  (Sorry Dr. M, I neglected to photograph them.)

But rabbits is what SWMBO wanted and rabbits is what she got.  Lots and lots of rabbits.



Maybe I should have said lops and lops of rabbits.  There were many of this variety, called lop-eared or just lops because of the way their ears hang down.  The ears on the front bunny can't seem to decide which way they want to go.



This is a prime example of a lop.  Note the ears.

I liked this little mostly-white bunny with the very black ears.

So ends our trip to the fair.  Oh, we did go inside Tim's Toyota Center and looked at a quite large photography exhibit and many examples of student art.  And, though I was drawn, SWMBO doesn't care for the carnival and midway so we left and went instead to a local Mexican restaurant for beers and nachos.