Long Lost Cousin

Met Cousin J, the only confirmed millionaire in the fam, along with his beloved, my baby brother, his beloved, my beloved at the Roaring Fork in Snottsdale.  The food was truly excellent, no question, but the tab came in at $260 with very little alcohol at all.  Cousin J and his B arrove in a three-day-old black Vette.  Very nice indeed.  They just returned from Puget sound where they laid concrete under water over a superfund site.  Sort of sweeping the dust under the rug it seems, but the Feds don't want to chance roiling that stuff up into the Sound.

Beverly Hillbillies Redux

So I send the stuff Max (we're on a first name basis now) Baer asked for.  Some pictures, a nice letter.  Now the guy won't leave me alone.  Yesterday he called to thank me and to ask for more pictures.  Today he's left two voice messages with instructions to e-mail the stuff to his lawyer, because in his palatial manse he ain't got no 'puters there'n.  Thank goodness for caller i.d.

Can Any Good Come Out Of Florence?

Driving K to her floor show in Globe last night, I was reminded that Ernie keeps talking about this weird radio station in Florence that has no advertisements, no news, no nothing but non-stop music except for the twice hourly identification "KCDX, Florence."  Called him to find where it is: 103.1.  Just as he said.  Who pays for this?  What's in it for them?  From the mix, it's clearly people who grew up in the 60's.  Must investigate.

Just Trying To Conserve Resources

Her:  "I really appreciate you helping with the laundry, but you're GOT to STOP washing the towels with the underwear!  It's gross!"

Me:  "But it seems to get the underwear so much cleaner!"

Her:  "SHRIEK!!!!"

Sunday With The Boys

Cloudy & overcast but we teed off on schedule at 9:15.  Spat upon us a few times, but didn't really start to come down until we were marching west on the 18th fairway.  I was the only one with an umbrella ("Hey! get a load of the cutie with the parasol!"  Why I continue to play with these guys, I don't know.)  Only one triple bogey all day, a couple doubles, a few pars, and a 91 for the round.  At least I kicked Larry's ass, once again, but that's old news.

Met Larry & 2 of his buds for the Lakers game.  Suns played well in the first half, going in ahead by one.  They struggled in the third and crumped in the last quarter.  Kobe had 40, Amare 25, I think.  All those young men on the court are very big guys, but Shaq is so much bigger than any of them it's amazing.

Musea

Picked up the Gabe before 10, and headed off to meet Sue at the Southwest Museum in Mesa.  She is some kind of female.  About 14 feet tall at the hip, and weighs in at about 4.5 tons.  Or would have if she were fully dressed.  There's some question whether this particular TRex is, in fact, a female, as it has a bone in its tail previously thought to be particular to males.  Due to their prevalence in today's dinosaur culture, most people don't realize that only about a dozen specimens of TRex have ever been found.  Sue is the largest and most complete set of bones, at more than 90%.  Nobody yet knows what those ridiculous tiny arms are about.

"Grampa!! Now let's go to your museum!"  Off we trundle to the Az Science Center for three more hours.  What great fun to (again) have a little buddy to take places.  Sure doesn't seem that long ago I dragged the Fabulous Swenson Sisters to places they were sure would be Boring & Gross.  Yeah, maybe some of them were.

Beverly Hillbillies

Ahhhh, Life's amazing coinkydinks.

I'd offered to make the dinner reservation for Friday with John & Lynn & Kent & Lorie at the Roaring Fork, but neither neither KristiSue nor I could find the number.  I e-mailed Lynn saying that this fancy restaurant's phone wasn't listed "down here in Clampettville," and would she please make the call.

This morning I get a phone call from a guy with a deep, husky voice I always associate with a heavy smoker.  He asks if this is me, I say yes, he says, "This is Max Baer.  I used to be Jethro on the Beverly Hillbillies."  I'm thinking, This automated dialing is getting really sophisticated if it can confirm my name before starting the recording.  He says, "I'm calling from Las Vegas and wanted to ask you a few questions."  Wondering how low this guy has fallen, shilling for some casino now, I start into my "awfully busy right now but with the Blonde's proclivities will be visiting there soon I'm sure" speech.  He laughs, says he really does want some information. 

Anyway - turns out he's trying to put a casino into a shopping center in California and wants info on how casinos in shopping centers work out.  45 minutes later, I've listened through his standard list of amusing anecdotes, famous friends ("I went to Bush's inauguration as JD Hayworth's guest.") and have a list of things to make copies of for my new best friend, who has confided his several phone numbers and even his personal FedEx number.  The air is really thin up here. www.jethroscasino.com

On The Rez Again

Chairman invited me out to address the Tribal Council, ostensibly to settle questions related to SMDS's proposal to build a new shopping center for the Tribes.  Set my appt for 3, got there at 2:30 as is my wont.  Met for a few minutes with the Attorney General, then got to the green room just before 3.  At 4 I went to the parking lot to tell The Blonde that I hadn't been invited in yet, and to send her to the casino to win our dinner money.  Invited into chambers at 4:55, new center never came up.  Chairman says they'll discuss it again on Monday, no need for me to be there.  Sigh.

Moving The Office

K & I set out for the lake yesterday, planning to babysit BellaBoo for an hour or so while Gabe got his ear re-looked at.  I went along w/SB & G-man for the doctor's visit ("Gramps!!  Look!! That's the eel!!, and there's the fish with the big teeth!!!, and there's the one that looks like Nemo!!  But he's not.") while K worked on her slides.  Yeah, that's right.  She's been having a little trouble rounding second base and needs to work on her -

Anyway, we were hoodwinked into staying into overtime, and boy do we hate that.  There aren't words to describe how we hate that. 

So, today we closed the office noonish, took the roadster to the boat. hooked up the battery charger, had lunch and a beer, a quick jaunt around the lake, and came home totally refreshed.  We're moving the office out there as soon as we can get phone service.

West Wing

Bravo has a West Wing marathon this afternoon.  Until Sorkin left as writer, this has been the best show ever.  Thoughtful, witty, intelligent hard-working people trying to improve the nation for others than a privileged few.  Reminds of my favorite quote from John Stuart Mill: "While it is not true that all Conservatives are stupid people, it is true that all stupid people are Conservatives."

Grandkids

Phone shows a message waiting.  Dial up the message.  There's a pause, some breathing, then Gabe's voice, "Mom!  It says I have to leave a message!"  Click.

Bella has begun calling me Grampy.  Not ready to let "Boppy" fall by the wayside.

Yard Work

My brother and his beloved are coming to visit from the frozen tundra yclept Omaha.

They are gardeners extraordinaire. I am not. Thought I'd clean up some of the dead leaves and plant things that have accumulated since they last were here, six and a half years ago. Ended up with a surfeit of biomass. Pushed it down until the Bloodletting Bush thorns went through my leather gloves, pile the rest in the corner by the gate.

Don't think bro & beloved ever shed blood for one of my visits. 'Course, they're smart enough not to have any damned Bloodletting Bushes at their palatial manse.

Scooter Ride

So Ernie calls Friday night, wants to know if I want to go for a "half day's ride."

(Now, Ernie is a member of a club whose name might be paraphrased as Iron Butts - guys who've ridden more than 1000 miles in a 24-hour period.)

So I say ok. We go east to Globe, South into New Mexico, back into Arizona, down to Douglas on the Mexico border, over to Bisbee, Tombstone, Sonoita, then home. Great roads, beautiful day, 572 miles in just under nine hours, including stops for go juice. Ok, we may have exceeded the posted speed guidelines on occasion.