Listen up

Just a heads-up: Austin musician, Alejandro Escovedo will be performing tonight at the Democratic National Convention. According to his website, he will take the stage at 5:45 MST.

Grab it and growl*

Waiter!! There's a hair in my... um... looks like it's pretty much ALL hair.

*"Grab it and growl": something my mother used to say at the dinner table

Yes, I know it's a Furr's Cafeteria. A chain that used to be my extended family's favorite place to eat. I think I'll just continue to drive past it now - infinity.

He's probably a nice guy

....but his head sure looks kinda funny.

Saw it on Essays and Effluvia

The Arizona years

Here's your soundtrack for this post, from 1953 - Frank Sinatra.


For my birthday (on the 24th) I put together a small collection of scans from that place and time, Phoenix Arizona in the early 1950s. We lived there until 1955, when we went to Hawaii for a short time. Click any pics to enlarge. I was born on Luke AFB, which has an awful lot to do with my life in general. People ask where I'm from... I say "the Air Force." Here's a picture of the doctor who delivered me. It's from a hardback book that is exactly like a high school yearbook (published a year after I was born). We lived in a little red trailer off-base somewhere, then later moved to a duplex.

Here are my folks with their new little bundle of joy.

I suppose I needed a bath. My mother seems to have dressed up for the occasion. I did the opposite.

Here's my mother getting a similar kind of bath. Not really. It's one of those fairground photo booths, fun for the whole family. (I more than half expect photobucket to yank this one, along with another one of these I have posted there.)

A bunch of little cowpokes from the neighborhood.

Here's a bunch of other kids playing grownup. Those cigarettes are a nice touch, aren't they? Candy cigs, I'm sure. Well, maybe not so sure.

 A hilarious picture of my mother Lola, a sausage, and a couple of my dad's sisters Ethel and Ruth. The "in-law" relations were always pretty bad, despite the smiles for the picture, but then they were smiling for their little brother.

For recreation, we would drive out into the desert somewhere and have a picnic. There's our car in the background by the saguaro. My folks drank coffee practically by the bucket, and what sounds better when you're out in the middle of the Arizona desert than a steaming hot cup of coffee? That's right. Nothing. My parents loved their coffee so much that once when on a camping trip, they boiled some hot dogs, then realized there wasn't enough water left for coffee, so they made it out of the weenie water.

For a side job to being in the Air Force, my dad was part of the pit crew at Manzanita Speedway for Tucson race car driver Bill Cheesbourg. He racked up some fairly impressive stats in his life. I don't think this is his car. The two sports I my parents liked were car racing and wrestling.

Another fun family event, visiting the carnival and watching the freaks sideshow.

Jesus, please don't leave me and let me go to Hell.

I don't remember this place, but everywhere we lived I got to spend a lot of time in the various dives, honkytonks, taverns, etc. On the back of this was handwritten to my dad, "To Bill, Just to remind you alway about the 3 Sister, July Betty & Jessie" (sic)

Hope you enjoyed the pics, there are a few more on flickr.
View all the pics in this set.

Purrsday Night - Jax on the Catwalk

Jax, as you may know if you read here, has a problem with excessive grooming -- he's down to just one problem spot now, a nipple. By excessive, I mean he has licked off the skin, and almost the nipple too. A month ago, we finally resorted to Prozac, which, so far, has NOT worked. Several days ago we doubled the dose, got some "calming" medication for his boo-boo, but it isn't supposed to be licked off so we tried an e-collar on him. FAILURE. He had so much trouble walking in it that it was dangerous with the stairs and all, so I returned it. Yesterday I was got desperate, and not finding a soft e-collar at the pet stores (I went to two) I brought him home a dog shirt. No clue what size to get as I had only measured his neck and not his waistline. This thing fit him like an old band uniform. Poor guy! I cut it up the middle back to give him some more belly room but it was still a squeeze. It didn't even cover his hurty spot, but it seemed to get his mind off it for awhile. Here he is, wearing (probably) his first-ever shirt:

Today, I went to the Goodwill and shopped for him in the Infant section. Now, I am kidfree and have never shopped for baby clothes before, but it was really kind of fun. They have the cutest shirts! I always wish I could find them in my size! Look at this cutester. More bananas, please! He's wearing this one pretty well, and even though it makes him pout him when the shirt goes on, he has demonstrated that he can run in it if there's food involved, and he even wore it to the litter pan. (good boy). I won't put it on him if he's unsupervised. Too much trouble waiting to happen.

The jury is still out on whether putting a shirt on this cat will encourage him to let his belly heal.

Tags and links: Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at The Catboys Realm on Sunday - Cats - Catblogging

McCain will bring back the draft

How else will there be enough soldiers to fight in all these wars that we are going to get involved in start? Here's a quote from the horse's mouth at a recent Town Hall:

QUESTIONER: If we don’t reenact the draft, I don’t think we’ll have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell.

MCCAIN: Ma’am, let me say that I don’t disagree with anything you said.

The questioner first has a long rant the poor care that veterans get, combines it with a rant about illegal aliens getting top medical care, and ends with the comment on the draft. Listen below:

via J-Walk, source Progressive Accountability

...and I liked J-Walk's comment that if he's at the Gates of Hell, why follow him?

McCain thinks that war is the answer to everything. If McCain gets elected, it's just going to be one war after another, until he gets us nuked. The Gates of Hell are not that far away.

And of course, Gov Goodhair likes the idea

What could possibly go wrong if teachers in public schools are armed on the job? Well, all kinds of hellishness. It's unimaginable, really.

My friend is a teacher, and her rationalization for teachers deserving and needing to have summers off is that teachers get soooo stressed, pressured and nerve-wracked that they really have to have that long break or they will just lose their minds. My counter-argument was that the police, firefighters, paramedics, and 911 phone bank operators should also get summers off - but that did not sway her opinion of her situation.

Back to the topic... I really hate to think of the stressed and nerve-wracked teachers thinking that a gun might be a handy thing to have. They might even shoot each other if school politics are anything like office politics in general - and thankfully people are not allowed to be armed in the office unless their job involves it. There's a reason for laws like that. More likely is that a student will get hold of the teacher's gun, and there you go, back to all kinds of hellishness.


Search Teh Google on this topic

Disturbing company-wide memo of the day

To: allstaff

The refrigerator on the first floor is a FOOD ONLY fridge. DO NOT place samples to be sent out for chemical analysis in a “food only” fridge.

The box has been removed and placed on the top of the file cabinet directly across from the fridge. Since the samples are being sent out to be tested for Arsenic, it is unimaginable that someone would place bottles that have the potential of arsenic content in a fridge with FOOD!

Please retrieve them.

Happy Monday!!

[actual memo sent out in my office today]

Disturbing household item of the day

Get yours here. Comes in dog version. Don't get your finger caught in it.

...and so it begins...

This is the Office Depot home page. This is the middle of August. Labor Day is a couple of weeks away, but it's not too soon to start Christmas.

HI Obamas

Huffington Post has a couple of pages featuring The Obamas' Hawaiian vacation photos. They include beaches, picnic, golf, and Obama body-surfing. One quick comment I'd like to make is that I've watched candidates age rapidly, get gray hair, bags under the eyes, lose their voices, and nearly wear out during a Presidential campaign, but Sen. Obama doesn't even look tired. He looks great. Look at the 2 sets of pics here and here.

Well, it may be fluff and irrelevant*, but the pictures really reminded me of the 1960s Kennedys. The reason is because, like the 1960s Kennedys, they are just such a beautiful family, the kind you might want to project yourself into, especially if you wanted to somehow switch your own family with a nicer one. I don't know how many surrogate families I "adopted" during my life just to bring myself a sense of normalcy and stability (and I would now add that normalcy is way overrated - I see that through adult eyes when I couldn't before). When I was about 9 I saved clipping scrapbooks of my personal heroes, which at the time were the Kennedy family and the Mercury astronauts. (This was before The Beatles came along gave me something new to collect.) I think that if I was 9 right now, I'd have an Obama family scrapbook, only it would be digital.

I lived in Hawaii a little while when I was little. I dug out some slides that were really a hoot - Hawaii in the 50s, and now I realize that this printer/scanner I got free with the new computer does not scan slides. grrr. I wanted to include those in this post, but will have to promise them for later.

*McCain's camp would say that a President's image with the public is not important, such as these images of vitality, but then tell you that the recession is all in your head. So is image and perception and confidence important... or not?

Austin music Friday

Went to see Paula Nelson at Central Market. It is such a hoot to go there. The kids always dance and they are absolutely adorable and hilarious, watch the video below. There's a kid that I see there a lot, and he has one speed - fast. The kids are also fascinated with the tip jar, that bucket of money that's sitting there. Paula is such a sweet lady, and her band is great. Central Market is like a picnic. You get your food in the market and bring out on the patio. We usually plow through a bottle of red wine, a baguette, and some various snacks and dips. We told her we hadn't met her dad yet (getting an autograph from the stage at SXSW a few years back doesn't count as meeting), and I hope we get to do that someday. Who doesn't love Willie?

Bobby Whitlock and his wife and bandmate, Coco Carmel were there to see Paula before their show at the Saxon (Lone Star State of Mind, which is broadcast live on KGSR radio and streams online). Coco remembered me from the fan drive this summer (I am always surprised and amazed when someone remembers me, especially when they see so many faces), so they were sitting near us and chatting. It's very surreal to be sitting there chatting with the Whitlocks on a grocery store patio, especially since I was (and still am) a HUGE fan of Bobby's bands, Delaney & Bonnie and Derek & The Dominos with Eric Clapton. That's just Austin. You will bump into folks.

We have decided to pass on Grupo Fantasma tonight and stay in. It's cheaper, cooler, and more restful. Spin that cocoon.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

Furbaby Friday - on the shelf

Henry wants you know that he will there if you need him, just like these DVDs and magazines. Here's a closeup of what he's offering.

Henry stays on the shelf when it comes to world events, his world is limited to the house and screened porch, but he does want to stay informed on the issues. Magnet available for purchase from The Onion.


Tags and links: Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at The Whole Kitten Kaboodle on Sunday - Cats - Catblogging