THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

It's been a bit of an up-and-down week around here but ending on a high note.

After our vaccinations the other day I began having a constantly recurring nerve pain in one side of one foot.

Come and go, like someone with a slow arm delivery holding a hammer in his fist.

Finally last night, I went to bed with a compression stocking on that foot, doped with Acetaminophen tablets and Lidocaine gel.

And this morning the pain is gone.

If it was, as I suspect, a reaction to one or more of those vaccines then time may have been as much of a curative as anything else.

But it's good not to be cringing every few seconds.

So what a way to start the Friday Funnies, right?

And here's another - it's time once again for just words, no pictures, as the Humor/Humour Bank/Banque has filled with them and it's time to weed some out.

So with no further ado (and a bit of a cheat) . . . tada!

I told you there'd be a bit of a cheat.

I just can't keep those guys out of here.

Well, Gentle Readers and Fine Friends, that's it for this week.

Now enjoy a great weekend ahead and always remember to keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . oh, YIKES! . . . )

LIFE AROUND OUR PLACE

 The best news I have to report is that SWMBO has her knee replacement surgery scheduled.

Less than 3 weeks away and when she got the call it was a big surprise.

She had been led to believe that it could be two or three months away.

She's in excruciating pain most of the time but now has a pre-op appointment for next week and soon the beginning of injections to lessen her pain.

So that's great news and she is very happy.

- - - - - - - - - -

Yesterday we got our annual flu shot and this time added injections for RSV and Covid-19.

Three sticks, one in one arm and two in the other.

Fortunately the young man administering the shots was very good and we barely felt them.

We still have a second Shingles vaccine to be administered but, since the first one gave us a day or two of discomfort, SWMBO has postponed it for now.

- - - - - - - - - -

I think it is proper for me to set the record straight regarding the recent death of my brother and my reaction (or non reaction) to the news.

I had not seen him for 35 years and I felt like I barely knew him.

My last trip to North Dakota was in 1988 and there were some problems.

He had only come to Arizona once, when our father died in 1980.

So, though we exchanged greetings on each other's birthdays through the years, he was pretty much a stranger to me, as I undoubtedly was to him.

Life takes some curious turns sometimes.

- - - - - - - - - -

Now, not to leave you with those dark-ish thoughts, let me show you what I created in the Taylor Family Bakery this morning.

That, my friends is a Pecan Coffee Cake and it tastes as good as it looks.

For those of you who will say "You two eat so well", or "I can't figure out why you both don't weigh 300 pounds", I can only respond "I'm trying, I'm trying."

I just told Judy last night, "At our age I think it's time to forget about the calories and to eat whatever we want."

She didn't respond but I did notice a thoughtful look pass over her face.

Have a great Thursday, Gentle Readers, and eat well!

ENIGMA(?)

 Wacky Wally gifted me this meme today.

But that food item looks like whatever it is has a salad and some French Fries in it.

And the drink looks like coffee.

Maybe this really is a Backward Cat.

SERENITY

 

A quiet day at the duck pond.

But not a duck in sight!

PASSAGES

 I've been taking pictures of the tree in front of our home for about a week as the leaves changed color so I thought I'd show them to you today.

On another note, my older brother passed away last night in Minot, North Dakota.

Wayne had turned 90 at the end of July but was suffering from congestive heart failure.

He died peacefully under hospice care in a hospital.

MOON DAY

 Today the moon crossed paths with the sun.

It's an annular solar eclipse.

In it, the moon is far enough from the sun that it never totally blots it out, hence causing what is called the Ring of Fire.

I thought you would like to see my photographs of it.

Yes, I did take that photo.

But it's of my television screen as the total annularity was shown from San Antonio, Texas, where scores of people had gathered at the Alamo to see the event.

Here in Arizona, we were a little ways off of the direct path so we never saw the total ring of the sun around the moon.

But, and I am amazed, I found that I did get a couple of photos of what we did see with my Android smartphone camera.

And here they are.

Nothing spectacular but at least you get the idea.

And, by the way, I didn't have any of those special glasses so I never looked directly at the sun.

How was it where you live?

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 So 'tis Friday once again.

How was your week?

Mine (DBacks knock Dodgers out of post-season baseball) was okay.

(hee-hee-hee)

But enough about my joy, let's get on to spreading some across the land.

And the seas.

To other lands.

It's time for the funnies!

And, to put it quite simply, that's it Gentle Readers.

Now, as ever, try to live it up the next couple of days and have yourselves an evergreen weekend.

(Oh, and forget that today is Friday the 13th!  Ha! You did, didn't you?)

But always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . now where did she go? . . )

SWEEP

 

Just in case you missed it, the (my) Arizona Diamondbacks completed a 3-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers last night to win the National League Division Series.

(It's baseball, folks.)

In the process they made history, becoming the first team to hit four home runs in one inning in the playoffs.

And the fourth one came from Gabriel Moreno who hit what looked like a home run to right field but after he had circled the bases in a home run trot and lengthy consultation among the umpires it was ruled that it had gone ever so slightly foul and he was called back to the plate.

Then he hit the very next pitch into the left field stands.

Blow, Gabriel, blow!

The team will now go on to play either Philadelphia or Atlanta in the League Championship Series to see which team goes to the World Series.

Can you blame me for my hubris today?

FRIENDS

 

Lovely Lana & Tommy Terrific

"on the beach"

MONDAY MIRTH

 

A BOY AND HIS DOG

Is there no joy greater than that of a boy and his dog?

Even if "the boy" is 70 years old?

Judy's son, Scott, and his new friend, Blaze.

MUSTANGS

When I was out running around, doing some errands, this morning I stopped off at a Pony Show.

Now since I live in the modern-day version of the Old West, i.e. Arizona, I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking horses, right.

Well there was plenty of horse-power at this show but it was not the retro kind.

It all came from these Mustangs.

Ford Mustangs.

This was one of the early ones , from 1966.

The first Ford Mustang automobile was a 1964-and-a-half, according to this owner.

He said he'd done everything on his car but the paint job.

(By the way, if you click on the pictures they'll be bigger)

Here's another 1966, alongside one from 1990.

I think this flashy black one was from 1999 but don't hold my memory to be all that good.

This pink one had an intriguing story to it.

The lady who said she owned it, all dressed out in pink to match the car, said her husband had never given her jewelry.

Instead he always bought another piece for her pink Mustang.

He told her one day she'd have a "jewel" of a car to drive.

I told her now that she had the car, she ought to hold out for some jewelry.

She laughingly replied, "Our 20th anniversary is coming up!"

I think that was the best story I heard but there were a lot more proud Mustang owners in attendance and I only spoke with a few.

It seems there's a car show just about every weekend through the summer.

Just recently there was one of all Chevrolet Corvettes on the Courthouse Plaza in Prescott.

I didn't make it to that one this year but I have in the past.

Vroom, Vroom!

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 It would be hard to top the antics in Washington this week for sheer, uninhibited, screaming laughter.

If it wasn't so sad.

So in the interests of keeping you all from crying, here is this week's collection of curiously cringeless comedy.

That's all I've got this week, friends.

Now I have Great Expectations that you'll all do your best to have one Dickens of a fine weekend.

Pip, Pip, hooray!

And always, always, always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . oh, yeah, I know all about that . . )

TEASER

I have been remiss this week in my posting responsibilities.

Just having too much fun I guess.

So as an apologia, I give you a couple of finer examples of what is to come tomorrow and, more importantly, of the humorous tendencies of two of my most loyal and true contributors.

Both of these arrived just this morning.

From Comical Carol . . .

And from Wacky Wally . .

I'll see the rest of you wonderful weirdos tomorrow!

THE MOVIES

 We are trying out Amazon Prime Video for 30 days to see whether we like it.

I was looking through the movie offerings and came up with a couple that we watched the last few days.

First, I finally broke down and ran "Top Gun: Maverick".

As you probably know, it stars this guy.

Tom Cruise is 61 years old but her certainly doesn't look it in this "boy's adventure" film.

Lots of flying stunts and a brief appearance by Val Kilmer, who's been struggling since 2015 with throat cancer that has damaged his vocal cords.

Then last night, I picked out another movie - "Gotti" with John Travolta playing the featured part.

He does a spectacular job playing the late Mafia mob boss John Gotti.

But after watching that one, Judy said "All right, now you owe me one. I've had it with all this testosterone."

And, as you know, she is SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed).

I'd already had my eye on one that should please both of us.

George Clooney is one of her favorites and Julia Roberts is one of mine and their latest reunion in "Ticket to Paradise" is billed as a romantic comedy.

And actually I prefer "rom-coms" to "action movies" anyway.

Sorry, guys.

I'll let you know how it is.