Those who CAN, do...

And the rest of us read their books and watch their movies.

I remember my dad signing me up for guitar lessons when I was four or five years old, only to be told that my hands were too small and that I needed to come back in a few years. Well of course that didn't happen. We moved and moved and moved and who knows how I would've been able to keep up with guitar lessons with all those different addresses.

But I've always been interested in the guitar. I love watching people play, listening to their different techniques--and whenever I have a fundraiser I like to include the local teens who want to get up on stage with their guitars and entertain. That shit's entertaining to me.
So Eric Clapton came out with his autobiography and I HAD to have it. Right away. Like, I couldn't wait for Amazon to mail it, I needed it RIGHT THEN AND THERE.
Steve found it at a book store and got it for me. I kept it in my bag for several months, carrying it around waiting for a quiet moment to read it. That moment didn't come until about 4 months after Steve bought it! I just finished it, and WOW what an awesome book. You don't have to be a guitar enthusiast to appreciate it, it's just a great story. He's had an amazing life. After reading it, you feel like you need to go out and find Eric Clapton, to tell him it was a great book.

I immediately began another book, it's supposed to be a political sattire. SUPPOSED to be really funny. We'll see.

Shay and I watched the new Rambo movie, on DVD, and we were quite disturbed by the amount of blood and carnage. It was definitely the best Rambo movie--but man is it bloody. On the flip side, it was a good opportunity to show Shay that things are good in the U.S. Things are quite bad most other places. It's better to just stay home.

I'm watching The Amityville Horror right now and I'm starting to get concerned about the wardrobe. Margot Kidder is the wife, and she's wearing rediculous outfits like a school girl uniform. And in one scene she had curly pigtails. I'm concerned because this is exactly how I dress. If Margot Kidder looks rediculous, then I must, too. See?

Crap.
Oh well.

Big Ugly

We had previously seen this Russian helicopter out at the airport, because it was being stored in a hangar and one of the airport employees gave us a peek.
It's owned by a gentleman who has a government contract, among other things, for assisting in training missions with a nearby Army base. When the Army Cobra helicopters are out doing maneuvers over the desert, this big bad Russian surprises them and they go thru the movements as they would be reacting to being surprised in a real life mission.
The pilot tells me the owner also has five more of these helicopters, and they're stored in Florida. He has to fly in the mechanics from the Ukraine, because it takes so much specialized training to be able to do all the inspections and maintenance.
Yesterday, they were finishing up the 100-hour inspection, and the pilot was hovering it around for a test flight. We sat in our vehicles along the flight line and watched, since it was about 105 degrees and the air conditioner provided a LOT of relief!

Today, I have trapped Kitty Meow Meow in the house and I will be taking him to the vet for his neuter. He howled all night, and we wore our ear plugs and just put up with it. He's sitting under a bed right now, pouting. He has no idea. I told him, but he wasn't listening.

Attention Wal Mart Shoppers

Our new Super Wal Mart opened this morning, and I waited until the hundreds of people waiting in line to get in there got themselves inside and dispersed before I dared to venture in.
And then I found out why they were waiting in line. They were all there to buy the same thing I wanted, which was the new Wii Fit game. The damn game was sold out, completely, by the time I got back to the electronics dept. This was within 20 minutes of the store opening!!! DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN!!!
So I got a few other things I was needing, and left pissed off.
That will probably be the last time I go out there, without calling first to make sure they've got what I need. I have no patience.
Last night's meal, and tonight's meal were all courtesy of the Pioneerwoman.com page. Last night was Philly Cheese Chicken Sandwiches, with Olive Cheese Bread. Tonight will be an Asian salad. Yay, Pioneer Woman!!

This past weekend, besides working at the Regatta event from HELL, was kinda neat. Steve and I found out about a kid who was returning from Iraq alive. ALIVE!!
A local group had made arrangements to escort the kid from the city limits to his house in the middle of town, so we joined in with them. We were on the big red Budweiser motorcyle trike, with a HUGE American flag flying behind us. There were about 25 motorcyles and 10 cars in the procession. It really surprised the kid because his family said nothing to him about it. It was quite emotional to see him hop out of his vehicle to greet us, we were all so proud of him and glad he made it back. Really good looking, too. Why do Steve's daughters date such toads with this kid running around single?????

Kitty Meow Meow has an appointment to be neutered on Friday, so now I have to catch him. I've made appointments for him in the past and he very slyly decided to run away each time. I explained to the Vet's office that he was a very free-spirited and somewhat wild cat, and the chances of him actually being here on the day of his appointment were pretty narrow. They said they understood. We'll see how that all turns out. As long as the temperatures are over 100 degrees this week, we'll see him. He comes in the house once it gets really hot.

Steve has a collection of broken down old motorcycles, and they've been sitting in the back yard on the basketball court for several years. I've been bugging him to get rid of them, and he always quickly refused. Well, dammit, it turns out they're worth some money. Steve got a hold of a vintage motorcycle magazine and each one of those bikes are selling for CRAZY money right now. Here's the catch, the CRAZY money only comes when the motorcycle is fixed up and hasn't been sitting in the desert heat for several years. HAAA!!! Time to bring those suckers into the garage and get them fixed up. Those get added to the list of projects that aren't being worked on right now.

A news crew from a Los Angeles t.v. station is in town today, and I think we're supposed to be schmoozing them (my boss and I) I haven't gotten the call, so I think I'll just relax, do some ironing, and watch tv.

Nuu Nuu For Brains

I can't afford much of anything right now because the paychecks are not very regular and gasoline, well, you know.
So OF COURSE I NEEDED $100 of QUARTERS!!!!!

Stupid, stupid, stupid. The ad in the newspaper said I only had 48 hours to order
my uncirculated Arizona quarters. They haven't been released for circulation yet, so I thought it would be pretty cool to get one roll. I dialed the number like a friggin sheep.

But I had twenty minutes on hold to rethink----"maybe I should get more than one roll, that way I'll have some Father's Day presents to hand out..."

So now I've got six rolls of quarters on their way. Great.

On a brighter note, I had the most awesome dream. My favorite show in the whole wide world, Ghosthunters, is on the Sci Fi Channel every Wednesday night.
I dreamed that they were in our area, doing some ghost hunting, and they got a hold of me and asked if I'd join their cast. Oh, it could happen.
Best dream ever. Here's a pic of my new boss, from the Ghost Hunters:


Went to see Indiana Jones last night, and, well, the first comment that we all had as the movie ended was.....
"That was out there."
Can't say much more than that because I'm sure it would ruin it all. Just know, that movie is "out there."

Pioneer Woman

I've got to give credit once again to the pioneerwoman.com blog page that Brandy has a link to. I should probably link to it as well, considering how many compliments I've gotten from her recipes.
Last night I made lobster bisque with "Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapeno Thingies" on the side. Salad, also, but the salad wasn't anything spectacular. It's been a sort of challenge around our house to find unique recipes for dinner and last night I was certainly the hero. Thanks, Pioneer Woman!!

On Saturday night, I drove an hour on the Interstate with a friend of mine to go
to the Kingman, Arizona Relay For Life. I wanted to see how they did things and also I wanted to show their committee my support. We ended up having fun, because Kingman is where there are a lot of politicians and county workers that I know, and many where there. We ended up socializing more than I thought we would!
They had a great crowd of participants, though:



We start work on our own Relay For Life tomorrow. The 2009 Relay will hopefully have the military theme that I've been pushing for. I've got all kinds of cool resources that I could use to get a military vehicle display and of course Steve would provide a flyover with the Cobra helicopter. Our stage could be set up like a USO, and the Survivor Reception area could be like the "swamp" on M.A.S.H.
Every year our opening ceremonies include a presentation of colors by the Marine Chor League, so if we have a military theme we could step it up and have representation from each branch.

Southern Arizona

Steve misses his childhood home of Southern Arizona, and for good reason. It's a beautiful area with farms, mountains, and mild weather. When we were on the road last week doing a little bit of work and a little bit of exploring and visiting, we traveled 1,000 miles throughout the state and I got some nice pictures.
This first one is almost my favorite; a wheat field down the road from Steve's property down south of Tucson. It's actually just a few miles from the Mexican border.


I had read in a magazine recently that Wyatt Earp's younger brother Warren was buried in a remote grave yard near Willcox Arizona. Funny, Steve never knew that and Willcox was one of his stomping grounds in his younger days. We asked for directions from the only upright living person we saw in Willcox, and we easily found the cemetary. It was a lonely, desolate, sandy field with several wooden grave markers. Warren's grave was in a corner by itself, surrounded by sand and sticker bushes.


Not far from there, we checked out the mountains which held the Organ Pipe rocks. Pictures really don't do the scenery justice, but I clicked away...


The elevations got up to around 8,000 feet, and to the East of this range we could see Southern New Mexico. Incidentally, this is the area that Rambo is from. Bowie, Arizona is at the foot of the Cochise Mountain range. We just watched the latest Rambo movie and at the end they showed his home, in Bowie.

We eventually made our way to Steve's property, and we found ourselves amazed at the jackrabbits that seemed to pop up out of nowhere and run along side the truck. These friggin things were as big as coyotes. Couldn't get a picture, though, probably because they were "jackrabbit fast." Did take a photo of some unexpected friends I found as we looked thru Steve's childhood friend's abandoned home site. It was a burned up house with remnants of structures all around. As I went to look at a big b.b.q. grill I found this sitting inside:

Those are Great Horned Owl babies, and that likely means "mom" and "dad" were nearby watching us. Those suckers are typically 3 feet tall, with the talons to match. Yikes. It scared the crap outta me. I didn't expect to find those yellow eyes staring at me as I rounded the corner!

We then went to Steve's property, which is nearly 100 acres surrounded by a whole lot of nothing. He isn't sure if he wants to build on this someday, or just sell it when property values get good again. Either way, it's pretty cool that he has this property because it actually is quite pretty.


We came back home, which was a five hour drive. After working for a couple of days we went to my mom's property out in the middle of nowhere, and had a chili cookoff with her neighbors. This is Steve and Shay, watching the horseshoe throwing competition:


The desert always seems to offer such cool photo opportunities; I'm glad I've got a camera!

Leapin Lizards

Had our fundraiser golf tournament on Monday morning, and it was a learning experience.
#1. Golf tournaments are EASY. The only hard part is getting people to commit in advance.
#2. Golf tournaments are EASY.

We had a very small turnout, but we still ended up making money and the participants all had a blast. At the end of the play, which was about noon, everyone gathered at the golf course clubhouse for lunch and drinks.
Here's a view from the clubhouse:


I am already planning another golf tournament, this one will be at night in July.
I guess I gotta find some glow-in-the-dark golf balls.