MATTY

He used to come and spar with Blackwell through the pane of a slider door.

Matty.

A cat who belongs to our neighbor.

Doug had told me once that Matty is well fed at home but insists on coming into houses and begging for food.

Well.

SWMBO, also known as The Softie, said that he looked so pitiful one day as he politely raised one paw as if to knock and uttered a plaintive soft "meow."

So she let him in.

Muggles shows interest in him but she pretty much ignores him these days.

Notice I said "days".

Yeah, he's become a regular visitor.

He follows us around in the kitchen, rubbing against our legs and calling in his soft voice.

But all he gets is an occasional taste of dry food from Muggles' bowl and he doesn't seem to care for that much.

So he wanders around, checking things out, playing viciously with a catnip snake, and finally he settles down for a nap on our couch before leaving to continue his neighborhood roaming.

He always goes to the exact same spot for his nap.

I wonder, do cats dream?  

Muggles certainly does, sometimes twitching in his sleep and waking up suddenly with a wide-eyed squawl.

I think Matty dreams too.

"Now if only they'd buy some of that tasty canned cat food!"

ABBREVIATIONS

Back in late 1991, we were ending 4+ years living in Mexico and moving back to the U.S.

Specifically to Austin, Texas.

We had picked Austin because once, on an earlier trip to visit the BRD in Tulsa, Oklahoma, we had stopped in Austin to see if we could buy a Sunday New York Times (NYT) anywhere.

Much to my amazement, they were sold from a dedicated box on the street!

I said to Judy, "If we ever move back to the States, we're moving to Austin where you can buy the New York Times from a newspaper box."

And so a couple of years later the time had come.

We had friends we had made in our Mexican sojourn living in Austin then and I called them for directions on how to get to their place.

Jordy (an abbreviation for his given name of Jordan) told me, "Come up I-35 and get off at the M.L.K."

"The WHAT?"

Jordy chuckled and said to exit at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and added "that's what everyone calls it, the M.L.K."

Well time moves on along.

Jordy is gone now and we long ago moved away from Austin and back to our beloved Arizona.

I get the Sunday New York Times delivered to my driveway now.

And I've become used to hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called M.L.K.

It's his day today.

DISTRESS OR PROTEST?

I stepped out of my garage this morning and was looking around the neighborhood when I spotted something strange.

One of my neighbors has a flagpole on his upper deck from which he flies our flag.

But today it appeared different.

In this somewhat fuzzy zoom-in you can see that the flag is being flown upside down.

That is a sign of distress.

But everything else about his home appeared normal so I began to wonder if he was flying it as a sign of distress or as a protest.

Considering that the federal government has been shut down for 4 weeks now it could be both.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Alright, already, Gentle Readers, I'm just going to forget all the bad things in the news for a brief respite from the darkness because today is . . .

And you know what that means.

It's time for The Friday Funnies!

Okay, had enough?

Oh, you haven't?

Well, maybe just one more then.

Or two.

That's it.

I can't be amusing you folks all day, can I?

Now listen up.

I'm anticipating that all of you ambidextrous automotons will apply antiperspirant and amble in an accelerated manner, putting aside the astonishment of apoplectic assistants, and have an adventure of a weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(oooooohhhh, so grouchy)

Mencken Wisdom

"The only way a reporter should look at a politician is down."

H.L. Mencken

"The Sage of Baltimore"

1880 - 1956

SO LONG, DOLLY

Carol Channing

January 31, 1921 - January 15, 2019

IT'S A NEW WORLD

How many times have you heard this?

"I never worked for the Russian government."

Spoken by a sitting President of the United States of America.

SUNDAY MORNING - BLEAK

UH-UH

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Oh, yeah!

Well, I hope your week has not been traumatic.

(Who am I kidding?)

Let's get to the business of the day.

All right, I think that's enough to keep you smiling for awhile.

Now whether you stay home and throw large objects at your television screen or tear around in the snow or the sunshine this weekend, I hope you have a happy one.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(Oh, not the grumpy cat . . .)

PLANNING MY DAY

I found this in one of my Friday Funnies from 5 years ago* and thought it fit well for now.

*My gosh, have I really been doing the Friday Funnies for at least five years?  Time flies when you don't know what you're doin'.

SEEKING AN ANSWER

A SOGGY, FOGGY DAY

I know Julie London never sang about "a foggy day in Prescott Valley town" but she could have today.

As a rain and snow filled second storm moved across Northern Arizona it left fog obscuring our ancient volcano, Glassford Hill, in that top photo.

Earlier this morning, all I could see looking toward the other side of town was fog but it was lifting as I took this photograph.

The cool (not really cold) temperatures and rain on the street created a somewhat drab scene.

The other day I donned my cold weather coat for an excursion into a snowy world after the battery died in my car as it was parked in my garage.

Yes, that is not a happy camper.

But a new battery was purchased and installed and today this is all I can find in my driveway from our snowstorm of New Year's Eve.

Warmer, drier weather and happier days are just around the corner.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

I had planned today's post for some time, just waiting for the holidays to be over.

But when I opened my friend Tom's post this morning I was amazed at what my eyes beheld.

So I swiped this photo of Tom, on the left, with some of his friends recently to lead this off.

And now . . the Friday Funnies!

Okay, I've had my fun.

Now, only a little alliteration, just literally have a lovely weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(Ouch!)

AGONY

I wandered past a television set today and heard the President of the United States talking about India giving Afghanistan a library.

He said something along the lines of . . "a library.  That's nice.  I don't know who would use it but that's nice."

It's not the library shown in the picture above but still.

Who would USE it?

I would think that there are some, perhaps quite a few, Afghanis who would love to spend time in a library rather than dodging bullets and car bombs and terrorists of one belief or another.

But then I'm not the president so what do I know?

This evening I was looking back at my blog history again and I ran across this cartoon from early 2009, in the waning days of the second Bush administration.

Hmmmmm.

2019

As we gather around a warm fire, it's time for another new year and contemplation of what 2019 will bring.

But first, let's take a look back at how 2018 ended.

Snow!

It snowed for hours beginning about 9:30 in the morning and covered everything around the Catalyst's lair.

Early on I had taken the bird bath, frozen solid, and placed it against the tree where it and its pedestal were soon buried in soft but heavy snow.

The colorful whirligig was snowed to a stop.

The smiling sun faces began to take on a worried look as the snow kept falling.

And the poor rock turtle eventually was left with only his beak peeking out.

It's a chilly 10 degrees F. as I'm writing this and supposed to top out at only 34 today so much of the snow will remain.

But the Weather Gods tell me the high by Friday will be in the mid to upper 50's.

So this somewhat rare snowfall will soon melt and drain away.

It's pretty while it lasts and fortunately I have a full larder and nowhere to go.

Happy New Year, everyone.