Love, not hate.
We had a great visit today with a nephew, his daughter and her husband.
I'm ashamed to say that I had never met Misha, our Great Grand Niece.
We had a nice lunch (thanks, Larry) and caught up on some family history.
I had meant to take pictures but, typical of this senile Senior Citizen, I forgot.
When I remembered we had parted company and were back home.
So I sent a message to Misha asking for a photo of the three of them.
Amazingly fast, I got this back.
Last night, as we were going to bed, my wife said to me "I thought it was Friday all day. Now I'm going to have to gear up for another Friday!"
WHAT?
Gear up for another Friday?
What could be better?
It's the day I bring you joy and laughter and inane cheerfulness!
It's the day for The Friday Funnies!
So before I begin, let me introduce you to a new contributor, a new Elf, someone who was led to me as someone who is a big fan of The Friday Funnies.
Her name is Carla and she will henceforth be known here as Carla the Cut-Up.
And she has provided (almost) all of the humor for this week.
So let's welcome her with a big round of applause and let her show you "her stuff".
The reason for that, you might ask?
Because yesterday I watched SWMBO, aka The Master Cook, make a big pan of Scalloped Potatoes with four cheeses and chunks of ham.
We ate half of it for dinner and we'll have the other half today.
So no cooking duties . . just reheating and re-eating.
BUT, she just told me she was digging around in the refrigerator and pulled out a foil-wrapped chunk of left-over pork roast.
That, she said, will be shredded and barbecue sauce added to make barbecued pulled pork!
For another day!
So the dining is good at the International Headquarters of Oddball Observations.
Another reason to take it easy today is what I discovered when I first looked out the window this morning.
From time to time, I have taken the time to look back at a time in my past.
That has passed.
And I am often aghast.
Okay, I'll stop with the word games.
But anyway, I decided today was a good day to see where I was and what I was doing a few years ago.
LETTER FROM A FARM KID
(NOW AT Camp Lejeune NC . MARINE CORPS RECRUIT TRAINING.)
Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled.
I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. but I am getting so I like to sleep late.
Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing.
Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water.
Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you til noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much.
We go on 'route marches,' which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A 'route march' is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The country is nice but awful flat.
The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.
This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes.
Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6' and 130 pounds and he's 6'8' and near 300 pounds dry.
Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter,
Carol
Mid-day Tuesday.
Prescott Valley, Arizona.
Temperature: 41° Fahrenheit, 5° Celsius.
WHAT???
I said to my eye doctor the other day when the wind was howling and the temperature was about like this or colder "I did not move to Arizona for this!"
(He was born in Montreal and went to school in Toronto before moving to the U.S. of A.)
He said, "I forget, where did you move from?"
I said, "North Dakota. About 50 miles south of your country. Saskatchewan."
He chuckled and said "Now that's REAL Canada!"
Remember our snowfall yesterday?
Almost all gone today as the storm moved east.
This time the Weather Gods got it right.
Our first snowfall of this winter arrived early this morning.
As the Laughing Horse might say "Hee-Haw, it's Friday once again."
On reading the biography the professor at Yorkshire Pudding printed in his announcement of my award, it is obvious that The Friday Funnies were the main reason behind it.
Oh, yes, he mentioned my wife (SWMBO) and my late pal, John Wayne, and my cooking adventures.
But he can't fool me.
It's The Friday Funnies that stand out to him.
And to YOU, judging by the rave comments they get each week.
So let me delay the inevitable no longer.
For the first time this year, here goes!
We had snow in our forecast for yesterday evening.
This wasn't it but I just wanted you all to know that it does snow in Arizona.
This picture was taken some years ago of our back yard when we lived in StoneRidge, a development in Prescott Valley that is somewhat higher in elevation from where we now live.
The daughter, who lives in Prescott, about 10 miles to the southwest of our town, reported she did have snow about 7 o'clock last night.
We only got rain.
But I was just outside and it is c-o-l-d.
It's almost 11 in the morning and the temperature shows at 36F/2C.
And with our usual Prescott Valley breezes, it feels colder than that.
The extended forecast has snow showers predicted once again for Sunday.
We'll just see about that.
I was in my room doing what I usually do in the early morning (and the rest of the day), reading "stuff" (on my computer), working puzzles (on my computer), posting to my blog (on my computer) and writing to friends (on my computer), when my boss (SWMBO) said "Come here and bring your camera."
I asked my other boss (my computer) if it would be okay if I could leave for a minute.
It seemed to be a bit snarly but granted me permission.
When I went to the living room my wife pointed at the coffee table and ordered me to take a picture of what the morning sun she had just admitted through the front window was doing.
So I did.
And her beloved crystal ball, which our daughter has been pining after for years.
She has many of her own now but still yearns for this one and knows she'll get it some day.
In the meantime, it glows in our house when the morning sunshine strikes it.
I was sharing some pictures of a trip to Seattle far back in my past with a Washington-based friend yesterday and ran across this one from our visit to the famous Space Needle.
We were across an aisle from a window and when the people sitting at this table noticed I was trying to get a picture they graciously leaned back so as to be out of the frame.
I like the result with the drinks and the light on their table in contrast to the amazing skyline of Seattle.
So it's 2024 and the turning of the calendar page had a special meaning for me.
I was honored with an award as the Best Senior American Blogger in the Laughing Horse Awards competition.
This is no small honor.
You can read about it here.
Thank you to Yorkshire Pudding and everyone else involved with the awards.
It's great to be recognized.
While all that was going on, Judy and I spent New Year's Eve with a baked brie, sliced pears and apples, grapes and a tad of beef summer sausage.
Oh, and a bottle of prosecco.
There were a few explosive fireworks in the neighborhood but we were long in bed by then and skipped the celebration.
2024 promises to be an exciting year as my country staggers its way toward another presidential election in November.
After the last one who knows what this season will bring.
Happy New Year everyone!