A family of Javelinas passed through the yard early this morning. This was the first time I’d seen young ones this small. The big ones were not pleased as we no longer put out the garbage cans the night before pickup day. Javelinas like knocking over the garbage.
But the little ones are so cute!
When I was a kid we had two grocery store chains in town: Acme Markets and P&C Foods. In those days the stores were considered quite modern. The P&C was a little bigger than the Acme, as it had five checkout lanes and one express lane that was never used. The Acme had four checkout lanes, but friendly meat folks that would pop their head out the mirrored windows behind the meat counter. Mom would do a lot of her daily shopping at the smaller Red and White market that was locally owned close to home. Their they wrapped meat in paper and wrote the price on the paper with a grease pen.
I find Costco and the like to be overwhelming and unnecessary. For years I have mercifully been able to avoid going to Costco with any of our other family members as I complete despise the experience. I just find it to be way “too much”.
Tonight I was asked to accompany my husband to the local Costco. I was not amused. I was not happy. And we’ll leave it at that.
I have begun outlining all the Interstate routes my husband and I have driven together over the years. Since we often focus on the backroads, this doesn’t paint a complete picture of our travels but it’s close.
A casino, a martini or some champagne, lots of money, tuxes, and a sexy vibe. The perfect Saturday night. Alas, enjoy one of my favorite dance songs (and video) of all time. On a Sunday night.
Here’s Armin van Buuren featuring Nadia Ali, “Feels So Good”.
Truman is glaring at me because this is not his most flattering pose. He was in the midst of a bath when the hooman decided to snap this photo. He said he wants to talk to Barbra’s agent about flattering angles n
It’s way too soon for the next Presidential Election primary season to start here in the United States. I know some folks started talking about the exercise right after the outcome of the 2020 election was called, but I’d be a really happy camper if we could limit discussions around the next presidential elections to only the six months leading up to the event. I feel like that would give us enough time to figure out who was going to do what and we could make a rational decision come the first week in November.
But the U.S. election system doesn’t work that way, mainly because there’s no money in that sort of sane approach. And money is the name of the game when it comes to Politics.
So I’m not ready for 2024. I’m not ready for the rah rah, I’m not ready for town halls, I’m not ready for any of it. I can tell you that I’m not excited by any of the candidates that have announced their intentions thus far. The frontrunners (if there is such a thing 18 months from Election Day) are both just too damn old. The Baby Boomer Politicians will just not let go and let candidates from the younger generations find their way to the big offices.
What I’m really not ready for is anger and vitriol. 2016-2020 was exhausting on way too many levels and things slowed down just a little bit from the end of 2020 to the present day. I’m not ready for Facebook posts and political rants. I don’t want to be part of any of that. I feel like I’m going to be desperately clinging to the “country” side of my family and just keep my politics personal. Political beliefs should be like spiritual beliefs, but instead of being between me and $deity, it’s between me and the voting machine.
I’ll probably get more worked up as we inch toward the frenetic political pace that is waiting for us on the horizon. I may share some of my opinions then.
But I’m really going to try hard not to get angry about the whole thing.
As I looked at the calendar this morning and it clicked that this weekend is Memorial Day here in the United States, I was reminded of the excitement I used to feel about the “unofficial beginning of summer” when we lived up north. Back in my radio days songs like “Cruel Summer” by Bananarama and “Summertime Summertime” by Nocera would get added to the playlist.
Even though we’ve lived in Arizona for over two years I still get confused as to what time of year it actually is, and that’s because it’s sunny for over 300 days of the year. The weather forecast is calling for possibly hitting 100ºF/38ºC this weekend. The trick is to avoid the sun and subsequent skin damage. I find the heat rather easy to deal with until it gets over 112ºF or so. Then it’s just too hot.
I kind of miss that feeling of “ooh it’s summertime!” excitement but then I focus on the fact that we don’t have “shoot, summer is over” later in the year so I guess it all balances out.
Our friends Richie and Jake are visiting for the week. They’ll be here through this weekend. In a rare occurrence, the whole family went out to dinner at one of our favorite local eateries. The Barnyard is not far from home.
Lucky and Jinx stayed home for their longest duration alone thus far and survived the ordeal just fine. There was much rejoicing when we got back home. I doubt Truman even noticed our absence.
It’s still exciting to me that we eat outdoors in May in a space with large swamp coolers to keep the customers cool in this Arizona heat. But then again, we’re quite comfortable eating outdoors in January so I suppose it all makes sense.
I had a Champagne and Orange based spritzer as my one adult beverage since it was a school night. We had a very nice time.
When I arrived home from my storm chasing trip on Saturday, this card and flower arrangement were sitting on my desk in my office. It immediately made me smile. Romance is such a wonderful thing; even after 27+ years of marriage.
I am a lucky guy.
Like the rest of The Empire State, my native Northern New York is quite conservative with speed limits on roadways. Interstates and other freeways top out at 65 MPH in New York, all other roads can’t be posted above 55 MPH. This is due to a “one size fits all” for the entire state, and because anything higher than 65 isn’t practical downstate, the relatively flat plains along the Great Lakes are treated the same way.
Here in Arizona, Interstates and other freeways top out at 75 MPH. Two lane roads top out at 65 MPH (in my experience thus far), though speed limits here in Pima County tend to be slower along non-state maintained highways.
Texas is a different matter. Two lane roads, even barely paved farm roads, top out at 70 MPH and the Interstates and other freeways are usually 75 or 80 MPH. One toll road in the state is posted as high as 85 MPH.
These more realistic speed limits, which match the intended design of the roadway, nudge drivers in the direction of respecting speed limits. In my limited experience during last week’s storm chasing trip, I didn’t see folks exceeding the speed limit all that often. In the Northeast of the U.S., the trend is the complete opposite, speed limits are often treated as a minimum or a suggestion and are downright ignored.
There’s a lot to question in the way government handles thing in Texas, but I really feel like TxDOT handles speed limits brilliantly. I know more states west of the Mississippi take the same approach. As a person that leans on personal responsibility more than nanny state tactics, posting a realistic speed limit encourages better behavior from motorists.
And for me, that makes driving more pleasant.
Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.
Weird? Eccentric!