Last Day of July

   Here it is the last day of July 2011 A.D. (Anno Domini ... in the year of our Lord) that's what I was taught. But some people wrongly believe it means After Death. The Liberals extant call it C.E. for Common Era (I always tell them that it means Christian Era), but I'm an "A.D." man. Your upbringing has a lot to do with a lot of things I guess. 

   Nothing much going on here in the desert Southwest. My nieto (grandson) Abel Anthony Rigney is still living with Hilda and me and still looking for work. His brother Devin (16) and his cousin Stevie (13) were up here with us for a week. It was great seeing them. It is amazing how much they have grown. You only notice that when you are away from them for a while.

Steve Jr., Abel Anthony, me and Devin

    Hilda has been really sick the last few days with the flu. It bothers me when she is suffering. I am hope she gets better soon. I was at the American Legion Post 36 this AM doing some paperwork (I am the Commander this year) and then I got the Sunday paper and came home. Have to go back there this afternoon and tomorrow some. Met the Department Commander's wife today. He was down from Phoenix and stopped by to see me at the Legion.

   Got a cute joke the other day:

                 If you know baseball, then tell me what's going on in this game.

                           

   O.K. ... "5 to 4, ... bottom of the fifth, ... one out, ... and no one on!   Simple, huh?

     We are awaiting some more monsoonal rains today. We haven't had much here in the Tucson valley. The mountains that loom over the city have gotten a lot. But, we are better off than our Texas friends and family. They are dryer than a popcorn fart. Brother Mickey in Ft Worth and Valdez (Dr. McGowen) 40 miles west of there in Weatherford are experiencing hot and dry weather.

    Not many interesting birthdays today, except for J.K. (Joanne) Rowling (46) who gave us Harry Potter. But yesterday we had (among others):

Arnold Schwarzeneger turned 64 ... he looks 75

Ed "Kookie" Byrnes  was 78 ... if you can remember him, U R old! (like me)

Paul Anka turned 70

Delta Burke was 55

Hilary Swank turned 47 ... two time Oscar winner and still beautiful

Vivica Fox made 47 ... she was Will Smith's girlfriend in 
     Independence Day (I just re-watched that)

Also of note - Casey Stengal ... born in 1891 and Henry Ford born in 1863.

Also important in history yesterday:

In 1619, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, the House of Burgesses, convened in the choir loft of the town's church in Jamestown, Virginia.
In 1729, Baltimore, Maryland was founded.

In 1936, author Margaret Mitchell sold the film rights for "Gone With the Wind" to MGM for $50,000 (not a lot in today's money), most ever for a first novel.  

In 1956, President Dwight 'Ike' Eisenhower signs "In God We Trust" into law.

Sunday the 10th

We are straightening out items in the new apartment and should feel at home in a day or so. We have gotten a few monsoonal showers, but nothing huge yet. Here are a few views from our 3rd floor apartment. These were taken during our rain the other day.

 

July 7th et al

   Thursday night (and Friday morning) here at the new Casita de Poeta Baracho (in English ... the little house of the drunken poet). We are starting to relax, even though the new apartment is still a mess. It will become "Home" when the picture of the 'Old Man' (a painting that I have, done by Tony Russell in the 70's) is hanging on the wall. That should happen tomorrow.

   The lovely Ms Hilda's blood sugar has been giving her (and me) fits. It has dropped drastically every day at least once. Hopefully it will chill out after a while. I am (and will probably remain) extremely tired ... between the move, working all last week and the "Commander" thing at the Legion. But it too shall pass (as they say).

   Tomorrow, after a morning at the Legion doing business ... I shall start on some picture hanging, et al at the casita.

 

    A man is sitting at home alone when he hears a knock on the front door. When he opens the door he finds two deputy sheriffs. Understandably, he asks if there is a problem. One of the deputies asks if he is married and, if so, could they see a picture of his wife. The guy says, "Sure," removes his wallet and opens it to a photo of his wife. The deputy says, "I'm sorry sir, but it looks as if  your wife has been hit by a truck." The man replies, "I know, but she has a great personality and she is an excellent cook."

 

July 7th is my late mother's birthday and is also the birthday of my sister-in-law Patricia (Mickey's wife). It is also the birthday of:

 

** Ringo Starr born Richard Starkey July 7 in 1940 (age 71) ... we (my generation) are getting OLD!. He was under-rated at the time for his drumming, but with passing years has become a great influence on other drummers stylistically. His drumming style with the Beatles was not flashy as most of the drummers of the day were. But, in these days since, he is recognized as a good drummer.

 

** In 1927, Charlie Louvin, half (with his brother Ira) of the country duet/group The Louvin Brothers. They were known for their tight harmonies and influenced people like Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, and others.Their real last name was  Loudermilk. He was a cousin of songwriter John D. Loudermilk. He left the Brother-Act to serve in the military in WWII and in Korea.

 

Events on July 7th:

1456 - A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy ... 25 years after her death

1550 - Chocolate was introduced

1753 - British Museum founded by an Act of Parliament (opens in 1759)

 

On July 8th, we have birthdays for:  Toby Keith ... 1961, Kevin Bacon ...1958, Nelson Rockefeller 1908 and his grandfather John D Rockefeller (the founder of Standard Oil ... Esso, Conaco, et al).

 

On July 9th, we have Tom Hanks ... 1956, and O.J. Simpson ... 1947.

5th of July

  Well, we have moved ALL of our stuff from the 'old' apartment to the 'new' apartment. This morning is cleaning morning. The 'new' apartment has stuff all over the place. But we have time to straighten that up. 4th of July weekend is a bad time to move, but it was the only time that we could get the place we wanted. I am taking a short break while the bacon cooks and then we'll hit 'er again. We went to the Legion yesterday, came home and moved some stuff and went to Post 7 (Legion downtown) for late afternoon hamburgers,etc.Then Hilda, Abel and I found a good place to watch the fireworks and then we came home. We hope you all had a good Independence Day weekend.

From the Arizona Daily Star (our morning local rag):
    The first city wide monsoon storm of the season added some extra fireworks to Tucson's Independence Day celebrations. Rain doused early-evening barbecues as a large low-pressure system swept through the city, damaging homes and cars, uprooting trees, flooding streets and striking power lines. Lightning lashed out at every corner of town.

   In the Catalina Mountains, it sparked a fire that burned a tenth of an acre and closed the highway to Mount Lemmon from Monday afternoon until this morning. On the west side it zapped a tree, trapping three people inside an apartment. All over the city it attacked telephone poles and transformers, leaving 20,000 customers without power for hours.

 

Measured rain totals varied. Some areas near Vail got almost 2 inches of rain. John Glueck, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tucson, said "The city got a good dousing, especially the heart of the city." And even as Tucsonans clean up the mess left by blowing dust, wind and rain from Sunday's and Monday's storms, plenty more monsoon action is on the way, with a 30 to 40 percent chance of rain every day this week.

    Temperatures are taking a much-appreciated dip. The entire week's forecast says temperatures will peak in the upper 90s to low 100s with lows in the high 70s to low 80s.

On the 4th of July in 1826, in one of history's notable coincidences, former U.S. Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
 

   Birthdays for the 4th of July include:

Author Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1804
Songwriter Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susannah," "Beautiful Dreamer") in 1826
Circus operator James Bailey (Barnum and Bailey) in 1847
Calvin Coolidge, 30th president of the United States, in 1872
Louis B. Mayer, film mogul and co-founder of MGM, in 1885
Ann Landers, advice columnist, in 1918
Abigail Van Buren, advice columnist, (Ann Landers' twin), in 1918 (age 93)
Former hotel executive Leona Helmsley in 1920
Actress Eva Marie Saint in 1924 (age 87) ... I cannot believe she is that old.
Playwright Neil Simon in 1927 (age 84)
Actress Gina Lollobrigida in 1927 (age 84)
Al Davis, Oakland Raiders owner, in 1929 (age 82)
New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in 1930 (age 81)
TV reporter Geraldo Rivera in 1943 (age 68) ... you know that Geraldo took up skydiving. Unfortunately the parachute worked!

Oddity:  A Tucson waitress gobbled 20 hot dogs Monday, but it wasn't enough to win the annual hot dog-eating contest at Coney Island, New York. Michelle Lesco, a waitress at the Arizona Inn who stands just 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 115 pounds, placed 4th in the annual competition.

Michelle Lesco chowing down on burgers at Lindy's on Fourth (in Tucson).

Notes:

     Did you know that sliced bread was introduced by Otto Frederick Rohwedder who invented the bread slicer, which he started working on in 1912. In 1928, he designed a machine 1.52 m long by 0.90 m high that sliced and wrapped the bread in waxed paper to prevent the sliced bread from going stale. On July 7, 1928, the first loaves of sliced bread were made by the near bankrupt baker Frank Bench. So ... what was the best thing 'before' sliced bread?

Proofreading is a dying art ... local headline says "Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter"

Perspective:   A little girl asked her mom, "How did the human race appear? "  The mom answered, "God made Adam and Eve and they had children, and so was all mankind made."  Two days later the girl asked her Dad the same question. The Dad answered, "Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved." The confused girl returned to her mother and said, "Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God, and Dad said they developed from monkeys?" The mother answered, "Well, Dear, it's very simple ... I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his. "