Saturday, March 13, 2021
Friday, March 12, 2021
THE FRIDAY FUNNIES
I'm in Arizona.
It's snowing.
Are you laughing?
Then I'm off to a good start.
Yes, Gentle Readers, it's the end of another week and many of you (Judy and I included) are fully vaccinated, the stimulus bill is passed and signed and checks will soon be in the mail (or however the funds are distributed) and Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend.
Wait a minute, that was supposed to be a good news sentence.
Oh well, it wasn't a bad week and I've got some advice especially for the ladies this morning: how to spend some of that stimulus money.
If you Trekkies and others are groaning right along I know I've done my job.
Now jump joyously but judiciously into a weekend full of juxtapositioned jollifications, maybe enjoy some jabberwocky, jaunty and jolly, without jitteriness or jealousness, and journalize about it in your own jurisdictions.
Oh, and always remember to keep laughing!
Here, kitty-kitty . . .
(Ah, just as I suspected!)
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
RECOVERED
No, we don't look like that anymore but the feeling of glee is nearly as good as a fresh bottle of wine brings.
In short, we apparently have recovered from the second dose of Moderna vaccine with minimal side effects.
After struggling through an upsurge in painful neuropathy and/or arthritis in my feet yesterday I woke at 4:30 this morning feeling great and pain-free.
(I know.
You're thinking 4:30?!
Hey, I'm sorry but I'm older than you and it's usually lights out at around 9 p.m. and up by 6 a.m.)
But to get back to the subject at hand, I show no side effects from the vaccine today and when I asked Judy how she felt and if her arm was still sore she said "no".
So apparently the much-ballyhooed side effects barely touched us, unlike some of you, and we're now fully vaccinated and back to normal.
Well, in a couple of weeks and still wearing our masks and social distancing in public.
Stay well, my friends.
Monday, March 8, 2021
FIRST DAY AFTER
Sunday, March 7, 2021
SECOND SHOTS
Judy and I will get our second shots of the Moderna vaccine for Covid today.
I've been hearing a lot from friends about the side effects they've been having.
As far as I can tell, there is no rhyme or reason for them.
Some people have chills, some have fevers, some people are fatigued and sleep a lot, some have just a slight soreness in their arms and some have no reactions at all.
(I'm counting on being in that last group.)
But mostly the effects seem to last only a few days at the most.
And as one of my correspondents put it, better to be sick for a day or two than to get the virus.
So we will march in like good soldiers and hope for the best.
Judy has a reward for us.
We're going directly from the shot-shooting arena to pick up a take-out dinner from a Chinese restaurant!
Saturday, March 6, 2021
Friday, March 5, 2021
THE FRIDAY FUNNIES
Like a good neighbor, Catalyst is here.
Just when you'd about given up hope, right?
Well I wouldn't let you down.
It's Friday and I'm determined to erase that scowl on your face and replace it with a big, silly grin.
Let us begin.
There!
I hope I've engineered a bit of distraction from your cares and worries for the end of another week.
I have high hopes that you'll all have a wonderful weekend.
And remember: always keep laughing!
Here kitty-kitty . . .
(oh, no-o-o-o-o-h)
Thursday, March 4, 2021
A BEGINNER'S LESSON
Once again I turn the reins over to my spouse, Judy, aka She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO).
💑 💑 💑 💑 💑 💑
Having recently been ordered by a doctor to go to a gluten-free diet, I needed a new kind of cookie.
I searched the Internet for options and landed on a Martha Stewart recipe for "Oatmeal Cookies".
First you use the blender to pulverize some rolled oats to make oat flour.
Done.
Then you follow very ordinary directions for the rest of the recipe.
"Place two-Tablespoon mounds onto parchment-lined baking sheets."
Now if you think Martha is a kitchen goddess you better not read any further.
In the oven the "mounds" flattened and spread until some of the cookies joined each other on the sheet pan.
They looked like brown lace when finished.
Not at all like Martha's neat little bundles.
After handling these I decided they needed something to hold them together.
"Tomorrow is another day."
So the remaining dough went into the fridge for a rest --- for the baker!
The next morning I massaged 3 Tablespoons of gluten-free flour into the dough, placed the "mounds" onto the pan --- and baked them.
Eureka!
They are still "mounds"!
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
ANNIVERSARY
Well, of a sort.
Today marks the 13th birthday of this blog.
I had tried blogging twice before but had given up both times.
No evidence exists of those attempts, at least as far as I know.
So Oddball Observations becomes a teenager on this day, March 2nd.
Here's the proof.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Monday, March 1, 2021
PLANNED
Upon first sighting the smoke, it looks pretty serious.
Especially when you know the Prescott National Forest lies in that direction.
But it turns out the folks managing the forest have planned it all along and actually set the fire.
It's what they call a prescribed burn, to rid the forest of fuel for an un-prescribed burn later on.
Sunday, February 28, 2021
SPRINGING AHEAD
The mercury in my thermometer is topping out at about 45 degrees today.
And the wind is blowing, as it usually does here in Prescott Valley.
The first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere of the globe is still three weeks away, regardless of what your particular groundhog or weather prognosticator predicts.
But that hasn't stopped the blood from speeding up in SWMBO's veins.
Nor of visions of seedlings dancing through her dreams.
So she recently took delivery of a three- (or four-, depending on how you look at it) shelf garden rack.
She didn't order it from IKEA but it did arrive in a small-ish, flat carton with no instructions included.
But she comes from a family of handymen and general contractors which includes a father, a brother and a son to whom assembly instructions are what one consults when all else fails.
So she launched into it and (with my gentle observation that one of the shelves end supports was upside down) soon had it all lashed together.
Friday, February 26, 2021
THE FRIDAY FUNNIES
First of all let me say that I am overwhelmed by all the comments on yesterday's post.
Thank you, all.
But now it is time to put that aside and get on to the real business of the week: lightening the gloom with a dash of good humor.
So stand back and brace yourselves for this edition of The Friday Funnies!
And there you have it.
Now if it's too early to mow in your neighborhood, use all that spare time to have a wonderful weekend.
And always remember to keep laughing!
Here, kitty-kitty . . .
Thursday, February 25, 2021
ThrowBack Thursday
It was about 1964 and North Dakota's own Lawrence Welk was paying a visit to his ancestral home and a big crowd had come to the Bismarck airport to see him.
Among them were my then-time wife and our two sons.
Welk was moving along a ropeline shaking hands but when he came to my little family he absolutely missed my two year old son, Scott, who then began to cry.
Someone made Welk aware and he returned and hoisted the little boy up to calm him.
A photographer for the local newspaper snapped a picture which he later gave to me.