MONSOON STORM REACTIONS

Here's the way the monsoon moved through our neighborhood yesterday for the second day in a row.

Once again there was thunder, lightning, torrential rain, some hail and water flowing in the street.

Muggles and Blackwell weathered the storm under the coffee table with their two humans.

Well, the two humans weren't under there but they were close at hand.

There was about a 55 minute power outage later when an electrical   transformer blew out, down the hill from us. A guy who I spent considerable time with today told me he was driving by when it blew and the light was as bright as the sun for a few seconds. Then it died down and he noticed lights in nearby stores flickering.

I spent quite a bit of time with him today because he was repairing my computer at his business. The power surge, apparently related to the transformer blowing, took out the power supply in my computer. He replaced that but when I got home I couldn't get the cordless optical mouse to work. After a couple of hours of fooling with it I finally went back to the repair shop and his assistant learned that the surge had also blown out all four USB ports in the computer. So, after a lot of hours of frustrating computer dealing and spending too much money that I don't have, I am finally back in business.

I will take his advice though. He said many people who have lost power supplies due to lightning strikes say "but I had it plugged into a surge protector."

He says if lightning can travel 12 miles in a second it can easily jump a little quarter inch gap in a surge protector. His advice? When a storm is imminent, unplug the computer from the wall. In future, I shall and I relay his advice to those of you in storm country.

Right, cats?

"Right on, daddy-o"

MONSOON!

The 2015 monsoon has arrived. But don't feel bad for us. It's not one of those apocalyptic Hollywood-style thunderstorms. It's an annual event in the Southwest, when the prevailing winds switch from the southwest to the southeast which brings low pressure and moisture into the state. Following, as it usually does, a stretch of intense heat the season is welcomed by most Arizonans.

So yesterday the skies darkened, lightning flashed, deafening thunder cracked around us and those rain clouds overhead released their bounty onto the land. (Poetic, ain't I?)

More such storms are promised for the next few days, which could "put a damper" on the Fourth of July parades and fireworks shows and turn the Prescott rodeo into a mud bog.

So it goes in our annual monsoon season.

IF IT SITS ON A RITZ . . .

One of the strangest food trends has been the resurgence of pimento cheese. Really! It's back in popularity. I found a recipe at the New York Times Food page to make your own. I showed it to SWMBO who said she remembered pimento cheese from her childhood, said the recipe looked good and volunteered to make some.

She did. It was good and like the commercial says it sits on a Ritz cracker just fine.

Make your mouth water? Here is a link to the recipe. My personal chef tossed in a pinch of Cayenne pepper at the end to, as Emeril Lagasse would say, "kick it up a notch."

Enjoy.

AN OLIO

Definition - olio: a miscellaneous collection of things.

Today is the birthday of two Americans who ran for president. Ross Perot is 85. Bruce Babbitt is 77. 

You probably couldn't find two more diametrically opposed politicians. 

Babbitt is a tall Democrat who served Arizona as Attorney General and, for 9 years, as governor. He later became U.S. Secretary of the Interior and was twice considered by President Bill Clinton for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. He ran for president in 1988 but dropped out after disappointing results in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Perot is a pint-sized billionaire Texas businessman who ran for president twice in the 1990's. The first time he was an independent and the second time as the candidate of The Reform Party.

Both men were unsuccessful.

Speaking of businessmen running for president, there's Donald Trump.

And speaking of creatures trying for future glories, consider this one in my backyard.

Need a closer look?

He appears to be considering a high dive into the bird bath but I've never seen him there so he may just be checking it out.

The other night a different creature was checking out our patio lamp.

The praying mantis crawled briefly into the lamp but apparently decided it was too hot and came back out again. Fascinating critter.

O.K. That's all I've got today. Except for one last thought on the Charleston tragedy and its aftermath.

(the return of) THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

My fellow smartphone addicts, today's edition has a common theme. See if you can detect what it is.

It's an unhappy commentary on modern life with a funny slant. Thanks to my contributors, have a great weekend, pray for some rain in Arizona (and California) and remember to always keep laughing!

THROWBACK THURSDAY

I was best man for my old buddy, Karl, when he married the love of his life, Cathy, a "few" years back. (Think my glasses are large enough?)

Coincidentally, today is another big day in Karl's life. It's his birthday. Happy day, pal.

ROCKIN' ROBIN

Here's what I want you to do. Turn up your audio and take a time travel trip back to the days of your youth. You'll see some familiar faces in the video, though much different than they are today.

And why, you might ask, did I ask you to take that journey with me?

Simple, (he said.)

I had a new visitor at the bird bath outside my window the other day.

The original rockin' robin.

Robins are famous for their wild and seemingly-frantic bathing in bird baths. But this fellow was content just to sit by the edge of the "pool" and take an occasional sip. Might have been too early for his swim.