MUSTANGS!

There was a big car show in Prescott today, aptly in the parking lot of the local In-N-Out Burger.

Can you guess what it was all about?

If you can't guess by that familiar logo, it was a Mustang show in honor of the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Ford Mustang.

There were representatives both young and old.

Muscle car designer Carrol Shelby was celebrated on one car.

And speaking of muscle . . .

If you're going to drive one of these beauties at it's best, you'd better have one of these on your dashboard.

That's a radar detector, in case you didn't know.

But sometimes it's just all about color.

The owner of this little gem told me pink was her favorite color. Her husband finally found her a pink car and spent 16 months restoring it to its original beauty.

Complete to a pair of pink fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror.

Another owner had a Route 66 steering wheel cover.

Another car had white fuzzy dice and a warning sign.

This license plate on one of the original 'Stangs brought forth memories of the old song "Mustang Sally."

Another car's owner seemed to be thinking of Hawaii Five-Oh.

And have you ever seen a hood held in place with barbed wire? You still haven't.  That clever design was painted on by a car detailer.

Another car's owner had gone all out with his paint job.

So which of the many Mustangs over the past 50 years, with the many styles and many colors is the best?

Something tells me these guys will be arguing about that one for years and years.

(This post is dedicated to my pal, Scott, a true car aficionado.  If you read his blog Flight Plan, you're no doubt familiar with his frequent visits to Cars 'n' Coffee.)

FRIDAY FUNNIES

Have a wonderful weekend, gentle readers, and thanks to my contributors/victims for the photos.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Judy (SWMBO) & I in the 1980's

Guadalajara, Mexico

Pre-white hair

Pre-Pacemakers

Those were the days!

UPDATE

Judy (SWMBO) now has her Pacemaker installed.  The operation went well this morning, she's now on 6 hours of bedrest and will spend the night in the hospital.  We are both relieved.

INVERTED

First off I apologize for the fuzziness of the photos today.

Second, do any of you people who have cats have cats that do this?

Muggles is famous for lying on her back with her hind feet in the air. She does it when she's relaxed, when she's content and, as SWMBO says, when she's happy.  She also does it sometimes when she's asleep.  It always amuses me and she was lying on the floor like this, grooming herself, looking around, day-dreaming . . for a long time last night.

It's difficult to photograph her like this, especially when she's rolling around and particularly when she becomes aware of the camera.

 - - - - -

SWMBO, by the way, is going in to the hospital tomorrow to have a Pacemaker installed.  This follows a scary incident about a week ago when she had a TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack) or mini-stroke and went to the hospital in an ambulance.  After one night there and a battery of tests she was home again, waiting for her appointment with her cardiologist yesterday.  He recommended and she quickly agreed to the Pacemaker so it will be done in a relatively non-invasive surgery* tomorrow.  She'll have one arm in a sling for a week or so but I can assure you she'll still be giving the orders around here.  I shall strive to survive her surgery and what follows.  

*relatively non-invasive surgery:  the device is planted just under the skin.  But they do run leads into her heart.

LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER

The BRD has acquired many of her mother's talents.  She sent me some photos yesterday of her latest offerings from her kitchen.

A panful of oysters frying.

Jalapeño Poppers and crisp bacon.

And Eggs Benedict.

Voilà!  Sunday Brunch at the BRD's house.

Damn!

Now I'm hungry again.

THE MIGHTY CENTURY PLANT

It begins with a cluster of tough leaves.

The flower stalk that rises from the center of the cluster heads for the sky.

It is said the stalk can rise as high as 26 feet.

As it  rises, blooms form near the top.

The plant whose scientific name is Agave Americana has been nicknamed the Century plant because it blooms only once in its 10 to 30 year life and then dies.  But shoots from the base prolong the life of this majestic plant.

These are not yet in full bloom.  I will try to get a picture when they are.

Meantime, this one plant . . not yet blooming . . seems already to be waving goodbye.

APRIL IN ARIZONA

Strong winds are swirling the snow around in the air but the temperature is 39 and most of it is melting when it hits the ground. The moisture is moving quickly through the state and the sun will probably be out later this afternoon.  On a day when I don't have to go out of the house it's fun to watch.

THE WHISKEY OFF ROAD

For three days in April, Prescott, Arizona  becomes the center of Mountain Bike Riding.  Yesterday was the first day.

It's called that because all of the races begin and end on Whiskey Row and the Courthouse Square.  

Tarps cover the headquarters of racing teams and vendors along the street.

Bikes and their riders of all ages lined up and filled the street, ready to ride.

At the location of one of the racing teams, extra bikes waited their call to duty.

You can read more about the event and see more photos and a video of some of the racing by going to Doug Cook's story in the Daily Courier here.

Yesterday's weather was perfect but today rain is falling and the course will get very muddy.  I'm staying home.

FRIDAY FUNNIES

I think I'll just let these speak for themselves today.

All right.  Let's all get out there and have a rollicking good weekend!

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Before I give up on Throwback Thursday posts you're all probably going to get tired of my Years in Broadcasting.  But what's a guy gonna do?

Once upon a time, back in the 60's, there was a national news program on the NBC network called The Huntley-Brinkley Report. It preceded what has now become known as NBC Nightly News.  In the beginning it was only 15 minutes but later it was expanded to a half-hour.

(Just an aside: I have found that most of the "hard" news is covered in the first 15 minutes of the current program and the rest is devoted to mindless features and self-promoting drivel.  But maybe that's just me.)

When the election season rolled around, the co-anchors of the Huntley-Brinkley Report (Chet Huntley in New York, David Brinkley in Washington) got a chance to go to which ever part of the country they wanted . . to report on some Congressional race. Brinkley was from Virginia but Huntley grew up in Montana.  So he headed west. Curiously, his first stop was Bismarck, North Dakota, where I happened to be the news director of the local NBC station. So I got to meet him at the airport and, thanks to a local newspaper photographer who was also covering the Great Man's arrival in our small city, got my picture taken with him.

In case you couldn't figure it out, Chet Huntley is the bemused man on the right.

But wait!  Before he posed for the photo, Huntley said "Just a minute. I've got to take a leak!"

He wandered off behind a hangar or some such building (it was a small airport) and came back shortly with the comment "It's great to get out West again where a man can pee where-ever he wants to!"

Some time later, I also met David Brinkley, but at WRC, the Washington, D.C. NBC station.  I was in town for something or other and wangled a tour of the station from a guy who was Brinkley's producer at the time.  I think his name was Robert Mulholland and he later became President of NBC News.  But at the time he was just Brinkley's producer.

He met me in the lobby of the station and took me to his office where we chatted a bit, then he said something like "Well, let me show you around."  We left his office and immediately entered the office next door, where sat the Great David Brinkley.  I was introduced and then Brinkley began talking to Mulholland.

"How come we didn't have film (this was before videotape) of the big snowstorm in Chicago last night?"

"They took the film out to the airport but it was snowed in and then they couldn't get back to the station in time to ship it by satellite."

"Why didn't they ship it by satellite in the first place?"

"The Today show wanted extra footage."

Brinkley looked at Mulholland for a few seconds, then . . in the unique way of speaking he had . . said "F*** the Today Show!"

Then he looked at me and grinned.

Such were my adventures with the Big Boys in the 60's.  They're both gone now.  Good night, Chet.  Good night, David.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

A FEASTING DAY

Other than Thanksgiving (and birthdays), Easter Sunday is probably the best dining day of the year at our house.  SWMBO traditionally fixes ham and this year was no exception.

Accompanied by asparagus and sweet potato medalions, it was a meal fit for the gods.  

She tried a new addition to her classic Waldorf salad and asked me to guess what it was.

No, it wasn't the Petite Sirah, silly.  I mean IN the salad.  After a couple of false starts I correctly guessed kale.  It was a nice addition.

Oh, there were also deviled eggs.  REALLY deviled, thanks to the addition of some Sriracha sauce to the yolks.  And garlic toast made on sliced bolillo rolls.

I LOVE our feasts.  Primarily because I am married to one of the best cooks in the Universe.  (Take THAT, Bobby Flay!)

After dinner, I was given the task of cleaning up the kitchen while the chef took a well-deserved rest on our patio.

Now, if I've calculated correctly, it's only 221 days until Thanksgiving!

BAKING ONE-OH-ONE

. . . or read the recipe carefully, dumbo.

I had this recipe printed out from the Internet for Dark Chocolate Coconut Macaroons.  It came from the Smitten Kitchen.  (If you click on that link you can see her recipe and pictures of the product and the process.

If you are a careful reader, you will note that the cookie mixture is combined in a food processor.  This is NOT a food processor.

While it says Cuisinart on the front and it looks tough and sturdy, it is NOT a food processor.  It is a blender.

Apparently I was not a careful recipe reader.  Although it says to blend the coconut for one full minute, it does NOT say to use a blender.

Dumping 14 ounches of sweetened coconut flakes into it will make your blender heat up, smell bad and eventually stop running altogether.  Which is what happened to mine.  

I dumped in the other ingredients, thinking that the liquid from the 3 egg whites, a tad of vanilla and the melted chocolate would eventually free up the mess in the blender and cause it to start whirling again.

It didn't.

So I dumped everything into a bowl and combined it by stirring with a wooden spoon.  Not easy but eventually everything was pretty much combined and then messily apportioned out onto the baking pans.

Well the macaroons came out wonderful.  They are rich with the deep chocolate taste and a hint of coconut.  As the wunderkind of Smitten Kitchen accurately predicted they are crisp on the outside but still a bit soft and chewy inside.

Even SWMBO, who said she didn't really like macaroons, pronounced them "great".

She did, however, note that they were very expensive, considering the apparent loss of our blender.

Until last night.

I was putting away dishes, pans and utensils as SWMBO began preparing dinner.  When I got to the blender, I decided to plug it in and give it one last try.  I started with a slow speed.  IT WORKED! 

SWMBO looked at me and said "try it on high".  

I did.  IT WORKED!  She said it apparently had heated up enough during my idiot period that something had expanded and prevented it from spinning.

I had survived, as had the blender!  SWMBO said I was very lucky. But she added "next time, read the #@****!!! recipe."

I shall.