CLA-WOW!

If you've been reading along here, you'll know that I discovered a French dessert known as a clafoutis in the past year or so.

And you'll recall that I started out with a cherry clafoutis and have since made them with various fruits.

I don't know if it was because I made my most recent one with solely blueberries or if it was because I sprinkled the top liberally (as opposed to sparsely) with raw sugar, but this was the absolute best, tastiest, wonderful clafoutis yet.

I have one piece left.

We'll see which one of us fights the other to the death to enjoy it.

CATS KNOW

The BRD sent me this picture of her cat, Mister, this morning.

She said he was chillin'.

But I think he was doing something just the opposite.

SNOW SCENERY

In front of our abode.

Yes, that is a nearly full moon up there.

Our neighbors' "Christmas" tree.

The all-white landscape.

TUESDAY MORNING

The Weather Gods have prevailed.

STORM CLOUDS

There is rain and snow in the forecast for our part of Arizona tonight and tomorrow and the clouds were forming up today to let us know what's ahead.

The sights in our version of Big Sky Country changed minute by minute.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Another seven days . . another week of woe and wild wackiness.

So aren't you all glad that it's time for The Friday Funnies?

I thought so.

Let's let 'er rip.

(I love that one.  If you don't get it, say it out loud.)

I've got one that's especially for my pal, Jager.

Here you go.

All right you fellow revelers, now aren't you in a better mood?

Just the mood to get out there and have a fabulous weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

Wait a minute, that's not funny!

Well, actually it is.

My longtime pal, Timmer, sent that to me.

He loves dogs . . . BIG dogs.

I still remember a huge, sloppy, good-natured black labrador he had called Jesse, which I called with a "you mo-ron!"

But any way, I can't leave you with that toon so let's try again.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(Ah, that's better.)

HAPPY HOUR

LOOK WHAT WE GOT!

We had been hearing from the BRD and her Beau Jack of the wonders of their Air Fryer.

They raved about how it makes great french fries without all the grease and how it warms up leftover pizza wonderfully and on and on.

So with a couple of birthdays coming up we started doing some research.

Guess what we found out?

An air fryer is nothing more than a convection oven!

So we did some more research and discovered the Cuisinart Airfryer Toaster Oven.

One arrived at our house today.

It has functions for warming, toasting, baking, convection baking, broiling, convection broiling and AirFrying!

Judy confessed that, like me, she had wanted a convection toaster oven for a long time but had kept her wishes silent.

I'm not one to be that quiet.

We have both tried it out now.

So far . . . we have made toast.

IS HE EARLY?

The All Mighty Weather Gods said we were likely to have snow this morning here in Arizona's highlands.

But instead the day dawned snowless and the temperature now at late morning is 45 degrees F.

And just after I had refreshed the bird bath water and raked the sand in the back yard and come back into the house, we had a visitor.

Seems a tad early but there he is: a robin.

He enjoyed a long drink but declined to immerse himself.

He may know that it is a tad early for that.

THE LAST OF THE BADGES AND PINS

I think I've beaten this subject into the ground but I'm going to bore you with two final pins from my collection.

Now I am a fan of the Rolling Stones but I have never seen them perform in a live concert, not the least of which was in England.

So I have no idea how I came by this pin but there it is.

And finally here is a button that commemorates my moment of fame when I appeared on the front page of USA Today.

At least it appears that way.

Gannett came to Phoenix and threw a big party when USA Today made it's debut in Arizona.

They had a photographer with a set where the attendees could pose, he would photograph them with the mock newspaper page set and later on would hand them buttons like the one above.

I wasn't invited to the party but I crashed it and had my photo taken.

So I wasn't as much of a big shot as the button would seem to portray.

I used to have quite a collection of political buttons, including funny ones from the 70's that said "Nixon's The One" around the time of his impeachment inquiry.

I had one from the 1964 campaign that had a small container with some yellow liquid in it and the caption "Goldwater".

I even had an old one from the 30's or 40's for Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

I sent them all to an historical museum in North Dakota.

I may find some more badges around the house some day but I think this is about it.

Thanks for viewing.

We now resume our normal programming.

BACK TO BADGES

I spent three years covering the news for a radio station (WIBC) in Indianapolis, Indiana.

I used to say "we don't press our news", but never mind that.

The biggest event in Indianapolis is the annual 500 mile auto race and I covered stories at and around the track, which got me these bits of memorabilia.

The entire month of May is devoted to the race so we Running Dogs of the Media got to know and hang around (drink) with people like Mario Andretti, Al and Bobby Unser, A.J. Foyt and many others.

But my favorite story of the Indy 500 was the year I stayed up all night before race day, interviewing people outside the track.

I was interviewing a ticket scalper at one point and another guy came by and tried to sell his tickets to the scalper at an inflated price.

A scalper trying to scalp a scalper!

And that's Indy.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Can you believe it's the last day of January?

Can you believe it's Friday?

If you can, you know it's time for some titillation, some tintinnabulation, some tee-heeing.

It's time for The Friday Funnies!

Oh, stop, she said.

And he did!

That's it for this week.

Now trot out there and have a terrific, tempetuous, troublesomeless, therapeutic, tantalizing weekend!

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

MEMORIES

When we got ready to open a bookstore in Prescott Valley in 1996, Judy's son Scott came out from Indiana and built bookshelves for it.

He also built our front counter, which was quite fancy for a used bookstore.

When we closed the store in 2003 one of our good customers, Betty Comfort, bought the counter for the Dewey-Humboldt Public Library she was helping put together in the next community.

Judy told Scott about this and said she wanted to take him down there to see his handiwork.

He professed ignorance, or at least a faulty memory, about the counter but yesterday they made the journey about 15 miles down the road.

And Scott posed for his mother's camera in front of something he had built 24 years ago that is still in good use.

Betty Comfort is gone now but her charitable work is remembered in the library where one corner of it is designated "the Comfort Corner".