New found pics

Newly developed pictures of the trip to the canyon.
Me at the "Hopi House", Hilda (in the rain) on the Lava Trail at Sunset Crater, and Hilda inside El Tovar on the South Rim.

More random thoughts

Sunday evening:
I am trying ... almost yoga style ... to relax and recharge my batteries. Wake-up / Monday morning comes in 8 1/2 hours .... it's 1830 now.

I have been reading up on, and watching TV about, 'active' volcanoes in the old U. S. of A. and I sincerly believe that I shall, in my lifetime, see a huge eruption in this country. I understand that it will kill thousands of people and cost billions in property damage, but I feel that it AND a huge earthquake are on the horizon in this country. Biblical prophesy, scientific fact (supposition), gut feeling .... yes, all that and more. The Cascade Range in the northwest, the San Andreas fault, the rift under Yellowstone ... and the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona. All potential danger spots. Oh well .. if it happens it happens.

I am not a fatalist. I am only a student of history and a lover of climatology, scientific inquiry. et al. As the Greeks said .."panta rhei"... all things are in flux. Or even better, the French said ... "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose" ... the more things change, the more they're the same.

Monday evening:
I made it through another Monday. I am watching an old B/W movie on TCM and relaxing before my shower. Tuesdays are usually better, or so I am hoping.

We have a slight chance of rain this week and I am hoping for some.

My friend Dr. McGowan and his wife are at Ft Huachuca (about 70 miles away). Their son Travis, who is stationed there, is having his shoulder operated on. Hilda and I hope to have dinner with them in Tucson on Friday night. They fly back to Texas on Saturday morning.

I am picking up two of my nietos on Saturday morning inBenson, and they'll be in Tucson with me until Monday afternoon. I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend.

Too damn early

Well, we spotted a Halloween display at WALGREEN's last Tuesday afternoon. that was the 22nd of August. That is 2 months and 9 days BEFORE the event. I, we, expect Christmas to break that easily. We are really expecting small displays and some ornaments to be displayed before Labor Day ... the 4th of September. That would be 3 months and 24 days before the event ... almost 1/3 of the year. We have secondary lookouts on-going ... 1st Christmas tree (artificial) for sale, first tree (live), and a sign that says something like ... "your Holiday Headquarters". Too damn early! Temperatures here are still in the 90's and we are still experiencing the SUMMER monsoon flow.
LFTD

End of the week

Have you ever felt like you were an outsider looking in, or slightly ahead of the average "Joneses" ? I, of late, have felt like a one-eyed existentialist in a blind community. I see and hear and feel and am surrounded by deaf and blind citizens. O.K., I am an ego driven individual .. but, I usually am driven by an inferiority complex also. Hard to believe? Truth is stranger .. you know the drill. If I can put words to my myriad of feelings in the next day or so, I will.

Our temperatures have only been in the high 90's and it hasn't been that bad, although the humidity has definately been 'east coast' and that's a real drag. The smell of the evergreens in the mornings and the aroma of the desert wildflowers on my morning walks has been absolutely outstanding. The birds have been overjoyed for some odd reason of late. They twitter, flit about, and seemingly enjoy the morning.

I am REALLY down of late. We (the citizens of Tucson and southern Arizona) are being overrun by east coast emigrees. Our water table is dropping drastically and our land is being decimated by housing developments. The area where I usually do my morning walk has been leveled ... no cactus, no trees, no shade, no wildlife. It is the future domain of two story, side by side houses for people who don't give a damn about the desert. People who will exist inside their domicile, never going into Arizona's desert, their A/C controlled environment closed off to sunlight by $2000 window blinds and heavy curtains. A back yard mimicing the east coast ... green grass / olive trees / et al. If they love the east coast and the north so damn much, why don't they return there? Am I bitter? Enraged? Totally pissed off? Yes, yes and hell yes. ..... Sorry.

Thursday

I sit listening to James Lee Burke's "Heaven's Prisoners" on tape. I am cleaning the desk, the dining room table, and my assorted tools. Sort of a 'very late' spring cleaning. Just came back from 'downtown' and some thoughts are in my mind, which I need to attempt to write down. This is 'first thought' writing, forgive me.

Downtown
.... late night
goths and stoners and bangers
baggy shorts revealing plaid boxer shorts
rings in ears
.. tongues
....... lips
........... and eyebrows
music
or UN-music to my ears
...... blares from parked autos
three grand speakers
in thousand dollar cars
if you took the profanity out of rap
would there be anything left?
the ability to shock
is all that street youth possesses
kids of fourteen going on thirty
they've freely given up childhood
that they won't miss for decades
by then
.... it's too late
get high
... get by
....... get over
forget Barbie, cap guns, and first love
do it all
.. get pregnant
..... watch him leave
over-weight
..... over-sexed
......... under-loved
I weep for your attempts at adult hood
it will never truly come
for there wasn't a childhood
your friends die
over-doses
... drive-bys
........ suicides
...............and car wrecks
the ones who make it go to jail
or Burger King
they work for five an hour
at car washes and pizza huts
they want expensive rides
expensive bling
and high dollar sneakers
on two hundred a week
minus taxes
... and drugs of course

Thinking ... always bad news

History on TV. I am addicted to it, and yet I realize .. being a student of history .. that everyone (especially producers, writers and film editors) brings a certain bias to their interpretation of "facts". It is really too bad and sad that facts from our past cannot just be presented without that bias. But, with man being who and what he is, can we / could we ever separate our feelings and our internal and environmentally infused predjudices and agendas (that we are not always aware of) from what the facts were/are? I am watching a program on THE History Channel, emphasis mine (as are all opinions, rants and raves), about Bible Tech. It is interesting, as are all the history offerings that I am so addicted to. But, at my advanced (and Altzheimer driven/prone) age I take all opinions (and that is what history is) with a grain of salt, or better yet ... with a grain of salt and a bottle of bock beer.

I realize how much difference there is in history depending on whom is relating the FACTS. A small example is "the history of America in the 1860's" as was taught in my junior high school and high school and what I assume (rightly) is taught in my former high school today. I attended Robert E. Lee Junior High School, you won't find his name on one these days. The other junior high school in Danville (for white kids ... this was pre integration) was Stonewall Jackson Jr. High ... you definitely won't find his name on any school now-a-days. Anyway, back to my point ..... we were not taught the CIVIL War, we were taught The War of Secession. I do not recall the wording in the history books ... may have been Civil War ... but it WAS taught as the War of Secession. It was taught from a PURELY Southern point of view. I grew up thinking that Bobby Lee (Robert E Lee) was as close to perfect as anyone this side of Jesus could be. His horse, Traveler (the name of the school newspaper also), was a noble steed almost to the point of being a famous knight's steed or a unicorn. The northern troops ('Damn-Yankees' was a single word in those days) were the minions of the devil and were slovenly, uncouth, crazed heathens. I realize as I have aged and become more 'enlightened', that I was not instructed in history but in 'Biased History'. BUT, I also have realized the school kids in the north (and elsewhere) were also taught 'Biased History'. That is the only kind that existed ... and the only type that exists today and probably the only type that will exist in the future. But, I shall continue to watch history shows and read history books and hope that what native and acquired intelligence I have shall assist me in separating the wheat from the chaff as it were.

Yak Yak Yak

Tuesday:
I have been relaxing, watching a movie, reading Fred Reed on the internet, trying to find out what Sacolay/sacolais/sacalais is. It is Cajun and I am not certain of the spelling. It is food ... possibly fish / seafood ... I tend toward fish. Perhaps my cousin Dean can enlighten me. Anyway, I am in an odd mood ... this post will probably meander over a couple of days. That is my past style anyway. I am in a haiku mood, but nothing has emerged worth sending along (I've decided not to send my junk poetry, which means you may not get ANY... since most of my output is junque to my mind.) Anyway, I am writing lots of junque ... poetry / prose / letters / BLOG / et al. and I am thinking of lots of things ... all thoughts are jumbled in my mind during this time frame.

Wednesday:
It's 1520, 3:20 PM, and I am watching the tube again ... Tommy Lee Jones in 'The Missing'. You all know that I like TLJ. I am not in favor of his politics nor his ex-Harvard roommate, but he is one hell of an actor.

Clouds are hovering over the Rincons like reporters at an execution. Maybe a little precipitation is on our menu tonight. It has been really humid today, especially in the warehouse. Our forklift was down all day ... they had to replace the water pump ... so we did a lot of manual labor. With all the bending, stooping and dragging of pallets and product .. my knee, and indeed my entire lower right leg, is in pain. I've showered and applied Deep Heat to the affected areas. I am having a few Shiner Bocks, so I am foregoing the pain pills for now.

Dinner is still in the planning stage, that's one good thing about living alone. I may cook something from my supplies or I may go pick up something. There's some leftovers in the fridge ... some BBQ, and some calabasitas that I made yesterday. But the day is young right now.

...............Instant Haiku .....
*****
Alone, not lonely
my own space is important
to me anyway
*****
westerns are real life
characters in black and white
sometimes seen as gray
*****
work used to be work
now, it's more like a life choice
it brings fullfillment
*****
soft thunder rumbles,
the promise of desert rain
is sometimes a lie

These are not 'good' but they happened just now, so I had to release them. Haiku ... indeed, all writing, is like that. When it happens, it happens .. and must be released. Quality is a judgement that is colored by each person's emotional / intellectual / and enviromental state or upbringing. So there ... they're here and they're mine I guess.

More tomorrow ... Tommy Lee is getting down and dirty with the Indians. Git 'em Tommy Lee !

After M.N.F.

It's VERY early on Tuesday morning. I have to be at work by 0430, a Kaiser roll is in the microwave ... some Philly Cream Cheese is warming (Garden Herb), and some Celestial Seasons Herb Tea (Red Zinger, let me tell you about that later) is in my cup.

O.K., we drank some Shiner Bocks, ate some pork tenderloin and veggies, yelled and screamed and disagreed. All in all, we had a great time. I rooted for the N.O. Saints throughout and they rooted for the Cowboys. They had a lot more opportunity to cheer than I did. The cowboys blitzed the Saints.

About the "Red Zinger" ... instead of water, I use hot apple juice. This gives me some sweetness, and it really adds to the flavor of the tea. You cannot use this on most herb teas because it'll overpower the flavor, but Red Zinger is hearty. Great in the winter.

Well, it's 0350 and I gotta' hit the road. Have a good day and a better week.

LFTD

Monday

Are you ready for some Football !!!!!!

Monday Night Football on ESPN. Really not the same as the early days on ABC, but it'll have to do I 'rekon. The Cowboys face off against the New Orleans Saints. I'll have to watch at least some of it ... it's a guy thing, or so I am told. Marla, Beau and Reinhardt are coming over ... all Cowboy fans ... so I'll have to root for New Orleans just to be my usual obstinate self. Go Saints! I don't know any of their players though, I'll have to fake it. Maybe I'll look them on the Net before anyone arives.

Tucson celebrated it's 231st birthday yesterday. It was founded in 1775, a year before the U.S. declared it's independance and the Revolutionary War started. Yet, somehow, the Anglos have decided that they settled this area of the west in the 1800's. Go figure. HISTORY .... His Story, you know the name of that tune. Anyway, Happy Birthday to The Ol' Pueblo.

Really messed up day at work. But I got through it and solved all the problems that came up and I am once again the hero of a stupid Monday. I wonder, at times, about the problem solving capabilities of the group of people I work for. They are smart, have degrees, etc., but they fall apart when things do not go as they should ... which happens a lot in this test. They WILL NOT step back,... look at the whole picture (not just the fire that needs putting out) and then make a common sense (albeit occasionally difficult) decision. Oh well, they're paying me pretty decently.

It rained again this afternoon, only for about 30 minutes ... but pretty hard. Water was inches deep in the intersections. I don't think that the airport got any .. so the official rainfall won't change any. The official this year is about 8.5 inches, but we've had over 11 inches on the east side. The 8.5 is over an inch above normal though.

I have a tenderloin in the oven and some vegetables ready for the stovetop, a few Shiners in the fridge ..... will be good eating during the game. It is about 1630 and the game starts at 1700. I have some pictures to scan for Hilda (old B &W ones of her mom and dad's families). I'll do that while I am watching the tube.

Middle of August

It is the middle of the month, past the middle of the year ... September looms it's head on the horizon, ... can Christmas decorations be far behind? We, "the Frothy 5", ... we changed our name, since there only seems to be 5 of us any more. (Juan got re-married and moved to San Diego.) Anyway .... we have placed ourselves on a "Too damn early" watch. We are scouring the stores for a glimpse of the first Halloween items / decorations and the first Christmas decoration / item on the local shelves. The first one to spot and report on a Christmas item/decoration gets an expensive dinner anywhere in town ... paid for by the other 4. I shall keep you posted. If you ... any of you ... spot these items, either e-mail me or comment on this BLOG. We shall purchase you a CD of your choice (pending availability of course) if you notify us before we notify you ... via this BLOG of course.

We went to see my mom today (Sunday) She is as fit as ever and sends her love to all you east coast types. I took HJR home and am getting ready to iron my work shirts for the week. I am getting ready to watch Eraser with Arnold. We watched Inside Man last evening. It was one of Spike Lee's best efforts, and Denzel was in good form in it. Pretty good flick overall.

I am looking forward to my Monday, there's a lot to do and I have to get started on some more projects. My one-day weekend is merely a revitalizing period and a time to wash clothes (done) wash dishes (done) buy groceries (done) and iron clothes.. (still in the planning stage).

As of right now, I am watching football ... Seattle and Indianapolis ... and, 'The Anti-Christ' on THC. Aren't remotes great?

Well, I must work on my novel, shower and get some sleep.

I sincerly hope that everyone is doing well, and that life is treating you as it should. We here in the desert salute you all. LFTD

Fred Reed -from Mexico

This is Fred Reed's column for today .... which I agree with (oh, yeah!!):

August 17, 2006

I found myself some time ago under social circumstances in a group that included an angry radical feminist, which is to say a radical feminist. Out of nowhere that I remember, she announced, “Men are sexist pigs.” Such assertions are par for the species.

It was not easy to know how to respond. She was clearly attacking. You don’t insult a group some of whose members are present unless you mean to offend. While I may have doubts about, say, the legitimacy of psychotherapy, I do not say while dining with a practitioner, “Therapists are swinish frauds.” While “sexist” might be regarded with sufficient straining as a political category, “pig” is a schoolyard insult. The comment was simply ill-bred. So are feminists.

I could have responded, “Women are useless bitches.” The problem is that I don’t think that women are either useless or bitches. A few are, yes. A few men are sexist pigs, and I don’t like them either. True, I don’t care for some of the attitudes that seem to characterize a lot of American women. This is far thinking that women are pigs or bitches.

Why do feminists go out of their way to be disagreeable? Much of human behavior is templated. Certain kinds of personality do certain things. They can't help it. Common templates are the True Believer, the Hater, and the Victim. The salient point is that the template comes first, the content second and sometimes almost as an afterthought. They are like empty forms waiting to be filled in.

The True Believer needs to believe in something truly and, really, doesn’t much care what: Christianity, evolution, Islam, Marxism or market forces. He needs the certitude. He doesn’t need to hate anyone, however. For example, evolutionists do not.

The Hater does need to hate something. Sometimes the choice is obvious, as when a black in the slums comes to hate Whitey. Sometimes the choice is less explicable, as when a man who has suffered no direct or clear damage at the hands of Jews becomes virulently anti-Semitic. A defining characteristic of the Hater is that maintaining the grounds of his (or, most assuredly, her) hatred is far more important than truth, reason, or kindness. The hatred is an end in itself, an identity, the core of his (or her) being. All thought and balance vanish in the insistence on painting the hated in as bad a light as possible.

The Victim believes that all of his miseries and failures are the fault of others. Victims are often Haters as well. Feminists combine the two.

The need to hate is different from the possession of an opinion. A reasonable person might believe, for example, that Jews exert too much influence over American foreign policy and various domestic policies, but also grant without demur that Jews had contributed much to the economy, the sciences, and the arts. The details could be debated, but the position is not that of a Hater. The Hater in anti-Semitic form cannot go for ten minutes in private conversation without adverting with hostility to various crimes and conspiracies which he attributes to Jews, and can never concede that Jews every, however inadvertently, have done anything good. He is obsessive about it.

So are feminists.

A feminist sees men exactly as anti-Semites see Jews. This is because she is an anti-Semite—the same template, the same bottle but with different wine. She has a more hair-trigger anger (“Men are sexist pigs”) because she can get away with it, a more bellicose incivility for the same reason, but the same (watch, and see whether I am right) lack of humor, obsessiveness, and the characteristic basing of her personality on the hatred.

Haters seldom know much about those they hate. It doesn’t matter to them, and just gets in the way. As anti-Semites are clueless about Jews, so feminists are clueless about men. Anti-Semites know that Jews rub their hands and say “heheheh” and want to destroy Western civilization. Feminists know that men don’t have feelings and want to oppress women, and hurt them, and degrade them. Yet they (both) think they know the hated enemy. They both pour forth half-truths, thudding clichés, carefully selected facts, and abject foolishness, and both are blankly unable to see the other side’s point of view or to concede it any virtue at all.

I have known only a few such feminists well, though I have read many. They have struck me, without exception that comes to mind, as fitting a peculiar mold: bright, very hostile and combative, but physically timid and pampered, hothouse flowers really, usually from fairly moneyed families and often Ivy or semi-Ivy schools. Often they have done little outside of feminism and would be helpless out of an urban setting. They have no idea how anything around them works—what a cam lobe is, how a refrigerator makes things cold, or how a file-allocation table might be arranged. Their degrees run to ideologizable pseudosubjects such as sociology, psychology, or Women’s Studies. They seem isolated from most of life.

None of this is characteristic of women in general. I used to belong to a group called Capitol Divers, of Washington, DC. About a third of the members I’ll guess were women. We dove the deep wrecks off North Carolina, chartered the Belize Aggressor for a week near Central America, and so on. It wasn’t lightweight diving. Sometimes we were in the open Atlantic in seas a lot higher than recommended, or ninety feet down at night on a wreck or, I remember, at 135 in the Blue Hole of Belize. (Cap Divers was a bit of a cowboy outfit.)

The women were fine divers, treated as equals by the men because they in fact were equals. Nobody thought about it. In a lot of aggregate time with them over the years, I never heard a single, “Men are sexist pigs.” The pattern is one that I’ve noticed anecdotally but widely. Women who are good at things that men respect are respected by men, and they tend to like men because they have things in common. They are not templated neurotics. Feminists are.

If you do not believe that haters are all the same people, wrestling with internal demons rather than trying to solve real problems, make a point of talking to them or, failing that, reading them. Remember though that a hater is not someone who recognizes an unpleasant truth about a particular group. A woman who says that men are much more given to violence is stating an obvious fact. So is a white who recognizes that low academic achievement among blacks is a problem. Neither is a hater.

No. You want the ones with the grinding all-encompassing hostility. “The kikes are destroying America.” “The niggers are destroying America.” “Men are sexist pigs.” These people are fascinating. Talk to them. Care is needed, particularly with feminists, to keep them from exploding before you can conduct an examination. But do it. Note that many are well educated. They can be polished. But the fundamental difference between a radical feminist and a Jew baiter is…is….

Wait. I’m thinking.

8-17-06

I got the tickets today for the Oct 14th .. Heartbreak Hotel matinee show at 1500 (3PM) at the Gaslight and also tickets for the Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde show (the regular Gaslight show) that night at 1900 (7 PM). Should be quite a Saturday. Just enough time between for dinner and drinks.

Had a pretty good day at work today. During the breaks in the action, I am re-listening to James Lee Burke's Prisoners of Heaven on books-on-tape. I love JLB's descriptions of everything. If he describes scenery ... you can walk through it, flowers .. you can smell and touch them, people ... you can stand beside them and you will recognize them in the dark, food ... damn! you get hungry and can almost taste it. His plots are O.K., but his descriptions of everything are most remarkable. After reading / listening to about 17 or so books of his, and talking to him back and forth on the internet ... I have formed a picture of him that may or may not be accurate. He is about 11 years older than me. He has a Martin flat-top guitar (which he loves and plays), he is obsessed by music, history, people and writing .... hell, no wonder I love the guy. His biography is as follows:

James Lee Burke was born in Houston, Texas, in 1936 and grew up on the Texas-Louisiana gulf coast. He attended Southwestern Louisiana Institute and later received a B. A. Degree in English and an M. A. from the University of Missouri in 1958 and 1960 respectively. Over the years he worked as a landman for Sinclair Oil Company, pipeliner, land surveyor, newspaper reporter, college English professor, social worker on Skid Row in Los Angeles, clerk for the Louisiana Employment Service, and instructor in the U. S. Job Corps.

He and his wife Pearl met in graduate school and have been married 46 years, they have four children: Jim Jr., an assistant U.S. Attorney; Andree, a school psychologist; Pamala, a T. V. ad producer; and Alafair, a law professor and novelist who has 3 novels out with Henry Holt publishing. (note: She's a good writer too, -Antonio)

Burke's work has been awarded an Edgar twice for Best Crime Novel of the Year. He has also been a recipient of a Breadloaf and Guggenheim Fellowship and an NEA grant. Two of his novels, Heaven's Prisoners and Two For Texas, have been made into motion pictures. His short stories have been published in The Atlantic Monthly, New Stories from the South, Best American Short Stories, Antioch Review, Southern Review, and The Kenyon Review. His novel The Lost Get-Back Boogie was rejected 111 times over a period of nine years, and upon publication by Louisiana State University press was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Today he and his wife live in Missoula, Montana, and New Iberia, Louisiana.
Both of which he writes about in a way that shows his real love and attraction for the landscape, people and ambiance of those locales.

I am really appreciative of anyone who actually has a REAL talent for writing. Whether they write fiction, poetry, non-fiction or technical stuff. I would give almost anything to have that kind of talent. But the Devil has never wanted my soul badly enough to offer me any such talent. Oh well !

Thursday ??

I sit and wonder
and think and ponder
things are not the same

I study and read
and live and bleed
things are not the same

life has changed
become deranged
things are not the same

folks stopped caring
young kids are swearing
things are not the same

people lie
and others die
things are not the same

the olden days
are just a haze
things are not the same

were the days of old
truly so gold?
things are not the same

explain to me
what it is to be free
things are not the same

is our history
how it seems to me?
then things ARE still the same

Random Writing

We went to see a show at the Gaslight Theater last evening. Robert Shaw did Elvis' 1968 Comeback Tour. He had a great group of local musicians backing him. The Lonely Street Band included 3 members of The Arizona Blues Hall of Fame and two others that will be in there soon. Robert was in great form as "The King' and yet never took himself too seriously. He started this thing about a year ago. On Mondays, the Gaslight doesn't have shows. They rent the hall to musical groups, magicians, et cetera. Robert and a trio did an Elvis (young Elvis) show last August. It sold out in three days. Since then, he has had 13 shows sell out, including the one last night. He has done three major shows on Elvis, and we are going to see a newer version of the Young Elvis Show in a couple of months. Hilda got Robert to sign her picture of him, it says ... "To Hilda, Love me tender, RS". She is having me frame it today.

We really enjoy the Gaslight, and have never had a bad time there.

I had some time on my hands and I was reading the "Celebrity" portion (inside the front page) of the two Sunday magazines that come with my Sunday paper. I am celebrity stupid I guess. Who are all these people ... all the females look alike and all the guys need their hair combed, and most need a close shave. Do they get divorced on a daily ... or a weekly basis? Do people really hang on every move of these 'clones'?

I am hoping to get my two oldest nietos up during the Labor Day weekend. I really miss those guys. I wish that I could get custody of them.

Well, I had better eat and shower and get ready for yet another day at the proverbial grindstone.

Later gators!

Another Sunday

Well, another week down the tubes. I do not really count Saturdays as weekend because I work from 6 to 11. We shopped some yesterday, and watched a movie or two last evening. I have to make up class signs for two of Hilda's friends at work. I started out doing them for Hilda on 'Printshop' and now everyone wants me to do them. And ... I am too nice, or too chicken, to complain about it.

It is 1620 our time, the sky is dark, lightning flashes abound and the rumble of thunder is heard outside ... above the sounds of "Austin City Limits" on the TV, Blues Traveler and Cafe Tacuba are the profiled artists tonight. In 40 minutes, the NFL is on NBC... the Redskins at the Bengals and I shall watch that or hope to ... Mystery Woman is on is on Hallmark, Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again is on Comedy, and "La Noche de Halcon" is on Telefutura ... it's Bruce Willis' Hudson Hawk IN SPANISH. You have never lived until you see Bruce Willis, Clint Eastwood, or Arnold Swartznegger in Spanish. I have some Shiner Bocks (they're on sale this week) and some dinner on the sideboard. Some prime TV time is on order and some relaxing. Have a great week and hug someone. LFTD.

Friday evening

O.K., I am writing a lot. Tough!

The evening is absolutely magnificent. The moon is out and glowing like a new bride over our landscape. The type of desert night when small rabbits wander all over creation in excessively large numbers searching for whatever it is they search for ... and get fatally smacked by automobiles on dark streets. They are probably hunting for food and female rabbits, or possibly just getting into the zen of the evening. I took a small walk after coming back to my place. H and I went to Bianchi's for a garlic, bacon, sausage and mushroom pizza ..... and a pitcher of beer. I certainly wish that I could get her converted to darker / heavier beer. I am just finished with my shower and must head off to sleepy-land in order to be able to arise for work in the early AM. There is nothing much to watch on the tube, so I will read myself into slumber. All my best wishes for a great weekend. Mine shall be a restful one. I have a few chores to do for Esperanza (Hope, Hilda's mom) tomorrow and I have to work 5 hours, but the rest will be restful. Have a great weekend and hug someone close.
LFTD

Another day

Wednesday:
We had some more rain last evening .... bad stuff on the south side. There were many power poles downed, some trees uprooted, a few homes flooded and a roof or two blown off. Our monsoons come with collateral damage at times.

I was waiting for the COX cable guy but he's not here, I may have to replace all the stuff in the storage shed and call him again tomorrow. He needed all the stuff removed from my storage unit because that is where the cable will run. There seems to be more rain on the way from east of us, so I don't want to leave anything exposed to the weather. COX just told me that the appointment was for 1 PM to 3 PM tomorrow, which is major league BS, because I am not here during those hours. I am here from 3 to 5. I will call them during normal business hours tomorrow and raise hell.

I am watching (for about the third time) "FX" on AMC. It is interesting mind candy and I catch a few subtle things every viewing that I missed before. I like the style of the movie, and I am a big Brian Denehey fan.

Friday:
Don't have much time, have to pick up H in a bit. But ... had to write this down while I was still angry. A guy at work was going today to get his teenager registered for free breakfasts / lunches, free books and see if they could get assistence for his lab fees at the high school. The kids shows up to pick up his dad in a lowrider (the kids) with a super stereo, very expensive (mural) paint job, $3000 rims, gold-plated stuff all over the car, enough gold around his neck to drown an elephant, two (2) cell phones, expensive clothes and an I-pod. Does this kid need financial asistance? I ... for one ... think not. But his dad says, " ... hey they only count my salary, not his ...". His son makes $17 an hour at a custom shop, but doesn't declare his money because he's a student. He goes to school 1/2 days. I am in the wrong racket, I need to sign up for school.

Tuesday rambling

There is Hilda shopping in Sedona, we never missed a gift shop.














Then, she is standing close to the edge of the canyon. You cannot see her knees knocking in a still picture. She is deathly afraid of heights.











Then, me at Sunset Crater.









Well, I made it through two days of work. Everything fell apart while I was gone and all they could say was ... "see, this is why we'd only allow you two days (Friday and Saturday) off" ... and so, I spent all Monday straightening up the inventory and finding out what problems had arisen and how best to handle them. Today, everything was fairly normal ... if such a word can be used around our warehouse. We are in the middle of a $5.5 million test by Procter and Gamble and drastic changes/challenges happen on a daily basis. We are attempting to keep P & C happy, .. along with ACNielson and numerous retailers such as Wal-Mart, Walgreen, Target, K-Mart, CVC and others. It is a balancing act of no small consequence.

I am rewatching "The Man From Snowy River", feasting on some pork chops with carrots, shitakes and some potatoes (yes, they have an e when plural) that came from my wife "the crock pot" along with a Shiner Bock or two.

I can't believe that summer is almost over. School is starting around here. Where does the time go now-a-days?

I hope that everyone has a great week. I have lots to do and some rest to catch upon.
LFTD

Thoughts

Being back at home and having the ability to relax in my own place has given me pause, and time to think. You people know that I get in trouble when I think. But, I am not adverse to getting my tookas in hot water. I have been many things in my six decades, and many different things to different people and groups. On the whole, I have kept parts of the essence of W. Anthony Rigney in each of my incarnations. I went for a short period of my life not really knowing who I was or where I was heading, sort of wandering and searching. I always knew that I needed the love and support of a good woman to be whatever it was that I was destined to be. I married a few times, mostly to (fairly) pretty girls with nothing between their ears. I lived with a lady ... scratch that, a woman ,,, for 25 years and still, I hadn't found it. I wasn't ... haven't been ... unhappy, just frustrated at times I guess. Now I enter my waning decades and still do not know where I am heading financially, et al, or what life holds in store for an old cowboy. But, I am mostly relaxed. I have a nice lady that cares for me and I have my health (outside of my kneepain, I am doing all right). My mother is still alive and reasonably healthy. I have my computer and I can write stuff that probably no one reads, but hell ... I write it for myself mostly. I write because I am a constant talker / writer and cannot shut up ... with either the spoken or written word. Thank you to anyone who reads this, and don't give up, as I will be writing it for generations. At least until the good Lord calls me to another place. And, you never know, there may be BLOGS in heaven. I had a great time this weekend, mainly because it made my Hilda happy. I have always felt better making others happy rather than me. I still feel embarressed at MY birthday celebrations and wish I'd never have another (celebration, not birthday). I am getting back into a poetry mode now that my schedule is less than 60+ hours per week. I hope that life is being kind to all of you and that you are all happy in your day-to-day existance. I really care for all of you ... in different ways and I hope that you all have the best that life has to offer. I really do enjoy waking up each morning and I never get down about going to work... it's a new adventure each day. Have a great week. LFTD

more .. R U ready .. pics

The Colorado River on the east side of the GC












Hilda and a Kaibab Squirrel












Hilda at Oak Creek by Indian Gardens

More pics from the trip

El Tovar Lodge, perched upon the edge of the Grand Canyon (for 100+ years)






Some brave (???) souls sitting on the edge of a 2000 ft drop. Saturday 8-5-06






Me ambling / stumbling toward the El Tovar Lodge on the south rim for a cold beer or two. (too much walking)

Sunday 8-6

I am (we are) back in the Old Pueblo. And, it is nice to be home.

Hilda now agrees with me that you cannot describe the Grand Canyon to anyone. She had seen pictures of the Canyon all her life, seen it in movies and on TV and yet .... when she came upon it on Saturday, she was amazed, literally. I count great experiences with her by the times I have heard the words 'cool' and 'neat'. She only uses these words when she really likes something ... which is not often. This weekend, she used them lots of times ... and on Saturday she used a word (several times) that I don't think I have ever heard her use. She said "Fantastic", and I swear that I have never heard that word from her lips before. SO, ... it was worth every dime that I spent to give her the experiences that she went through and the sights she saw.

I drove in from Camp Verde today, and took Hilda to her house. We got everything that I had bought her and everything she had purchased from the trunk / backseat / glove box / suitcases et al. and put all her pictures in an album to take to work tomorrow.

I came to my place, unloaded suitcases and bags. et al and made something to eat. I am in the middle of a Swartznegger movie, checking my e-mail and relaxing.

THE TRIP
Thursday: we left Tucson in a driving rain and drove to Camp Verde where we spent the night.

Friday: we went to the Cliff Castle Casino, Montezuma Castle (ancient cliff dwellings), the Red Rock Country (Sedona), and up Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff. We got a motel and then went to see Sunset Crater ... volcano, ash mounds, and lava flows. Had a late dinner at Salsa Brava Grill in Flagstaff. I had the fantastic spinach and portabello enchiladas in a red chili sauce and Hilda had Navajo Fry Bread Tacos with shrimp and Shitake mushrooms.

Saturday: Williams, Arizona, the Ponderosa Pine forests and on to the Grand Canyon. Long day of walking and sightseeing. Dinner in Flagstaff and a drive to Camp Verde.

Sunday: Visited Fort Verde and then a drive to Tucson. Temperature was 80 in Flag, 104 in Phoenix and about 99 or so here.

A few pictures follow.

Me on the south rim at Bright Angel Trail.

Hilda at Montezuma Castle at Camp Verde, AZ

and Hilda at one of the 'Lookouts' on the south rim

See ya' Monday

Won't be on until "at least" Monday night ... have a great weekend. LFTD

G'bye

I will be leaving after work on Thursday and shall be gone until Monday morning. Any comments on this blog will not be published during that time frame. Any comment that you put on needs my O.K. before it is published ... they send me an e-mail telling me that you commented. This is done so that I may keep any profane comments, sexual comments,, et al off of this (sort of) family oriented site. My nietos (grandkids) read this BLOG when they are on-line. I realize that they hear and read and know more about life and all it's vulgarities at 11 and 15 than I did by the time I was 21 ... or older. But, as a Tata, I have to do my part.

I really am looking forward to being off for three days. I have not had that happen to me in a while ... and the last time it did, I was in Vegas with my brother and his lovely wife. This trip will not match that one for a lot of reasons ... the main one being the chance to visit with Mickey and Patricia, and being with my mom ... but I will enjoy showing Hilda her home state. Or, at least a small portion of it. I shall have e-mail/BLOG withdrawals for that time frame, but I shall continue to live (I hope).

Haiku for the trip
*****
traveling upstate
three days in northern A Z
rejuvination

*****
high elevations
forests of Ponderosa
and the Grand Canyon

*****
Friday, Camp Verde
Montezuma's Castle ruins
and then, Sedona

Slide Rock in Oak Creek
red rock vistas all around
center of good vibes

then on to Flagstaff
Sunset Crater volcano
Meteor Crater

north on Saturday
the Grand Canyon awaits us
in all it's glory

Sunday, it's over
south through Phoenix to Tucson
time to sleep at home

*****

LFTD

Verse for newcomers

The summer rains come
they fill our dry washes
rivers appear in real life
like on maps of the area
the overflow gets into fields,
and yards
and houses
but hey
who built in those areas anyway
people from back east
who know nada of the desert
then they complain on TV
about flood control
and pray for a cessation of the rain
go home non-desert lover
these rains are our life blood
without them
you'd have no golf courses
or green front lawns
or olive trees
why
if you love our desert
must you try to change her
this is not the east coast
live WITH the desert
not just
in the desert
you had water
in Illinois
and Michigan
and New Jersey
so
why did you leave
you come here
to despoil our
terrascape
and deprive the desert animals
of home
and water
and food
you want to live in the wild
but
you don't want coyotes
javelina
bobcat
or puma near
they might injure little Fifi
with her new poodle cut
or eat up your flowers
that your landscape service
planted
waters
and cares for
you sit in your closed
air conditioned
overpriced houses
and admire the desert
through locked patio doors
and triple pane picture windows
ever thought of going outside
and actually being in the desert
****
I thought not