WOEBEGONE WEDNESDAY

I posted yesterday a photo of days gone by when I used to climb around on rocks.

SWMBO can tell you, and we have the pictures to prove it, that I was known for going to the edge of precipices, clambering around on boulders in streams, taking chances on my footing.

But those days are gone as I approach the end of my 75th year on the planet.

My knees aren't as flexible as they once were.

My balance isn't near what it once was.

So after a couple of slightly scary incidents in recent years, I've taken to doing whatever outdoor activity is on my agenda with a hiking stick.

I stick to the trail system in our development.

They call them "trails".

For the most part I call them "sidewalks".

Occasionally I walk down to this small park a short distance from where I live.

It's not much.

Just a circle of grass and on this particular day it was looking gloomy under cloudy skies.

But it does have an advantage I never would have thought of in my more physical days: several park benches to rest on.

Several of my Gentle Readers commented yesterday on their own difficulties with age.

Tom, in California, says he sticks to trails nowadays as his knees and ankles seem more tenuous.

Steve, in Germany, said heights never bothered him when he was younger but now they do.

It seems that we're all growing not just older but actually "old".

I was thinking about this after I woke this morning but was still clinging to the warmth of bed and the futile hope that I might go back to sleep.

Oh well. I still have my window next to my desk and I can still watch my birds as they come to the bird bath and the tree above it.

This little goldfinch, if that's what it is, seemed to be warming himself in the sun of a brighter day recently.

Newcomers here think winter is over as the temperature rises into the 60's.

But those of us who have lived here for awhile know that Old Man Winter can surprise us over the next couple of months.

The day SWMBO and I opened our bookstore, back in 1996 after a very mild winter, a snowstorm dumped several inches on us.

That was in the first week of March.

I had envisioned a nice day snuggled down amidst my books welcoming eager customers.

Instead I spent much of the day shoveling the sidewalk in front of the store and we took in less than 30 dollars.

Nowadays, I'd hire some kids to do the shoveling and it would probably cost me $30.

So it goes.

TUESDAY TRAVELS

Does this fuzzy picture of your hero appear to show him somewhat perturbed?

Could be.

Why you ask?

Because while climbing around in the Granite Dells of Prescott, Arizona, he got himself stranded in the rocks.

Not really.

I did get down okay but I don't do that anymore.

MONDAY MOURNING

Carolina Panthers 49

Arizona Cardinals 15

PUZZLE SOLUTION

Ah dear Gentle Readers, you are a spectacular Sherlockian crew.

I had many great suggestions for what was pictured in my puzzle photo yesterday.

Some of you were so close as to almost name a winner.

But not quite.

The answer to the puzzle picture was something more mundane.

It was the pattern on a box of facial tissues.

I might say it was as plain as the nose on your face.

But I wouldn't.

So, here it is.

Here's a box of a different color.

All done to make your bathroom vanity or bedside table look more appealing.

PUZZLE

I imagine you are all busy keeping track of the Snowcopalypse '16 along the eastern seaboard of the United States.

To someone who spent the first 29 years of his life in the Dakotas, most of that in North Dakota within 50 miles of the Canadian border, I'm not all that impressed.

But be that as it may.

With snow and ice and cold dominating the television screens it seemed like a perfect time for you to figure out what is depicted in this photo.

Make your guesses.

I'll have the answer for you tomorrow.

FRIDAY FUNNIES

Yassuh, yassuh, yassuh, it's that time of the week again.

Time to cozy up to something (someone) warm and try to preserve your body heat.

Well, at least in some parts of the world.

It is forecast to be sunny and 63 here today. (heh-heh)

Hey, if I've irritated some of you so far, I have a solution.

But since (at least to my knowledge) there is no Champagne truck yet, there is another way to go.

Or . . .

All right.

Enough.

Try as best you can, Gentle Readers, to have a delicious weekend, keep laughing and, above all, stay warm.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

Thanks to all my contributors with a special thanks to Seattle Lori this week!

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Criminy!

I must be getting old.

I almost forgot to post today!

So let's go back.

Way back.

Way, way, way back.

To when I was slim enough to wear a shirt with horizontal stripes.

I can't tell you when the photo was taken. 

Some time in the early 1980's, I believe.

That's me on the right.

The good looking guy on the left is my son, Scott, who came for a visit with us when we lived in Phoenix.

He is not to be confused with Judy's son, Scott, who just visited us recently.

Just one of those strange coincidences of life.