funny

_

/\

I'm quoting today

.

"Rembrandt painted 700 pictures. Of these, 3,000 are still in existence."
~Wilhelm Bode

"He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader."
~Aristotle

"My father said: 'You must never try to make all the money that's in a deal. Let the other fellow make some money too, because if you have a reputation for always making all the money, you won't have many deals.'"
~Jean Paul Getty

"Cheap, cheap, cheap... cheap, cheap... cheap."
~the jay outside on the fence

it's good to give others a voice
.

Now I remember

.

The oldtimers around here say, "It tain't hot unless it reaches 100 afore noon."
Another favorite expression is, "It's a dry heat."
Yesterday it didn't make 100 by noon but it got really dry around 3pm... and kept getting drier, bottoming out at 9% humidity.
Of course the main advantage to the low humidity is we can use evaporative cooling instead of air conditioning... at least until it gets hot [see first quote above]

106º
.

Darn

.

I missed it. Sometime between 4:00pm and 5:00pm yesterday the temperature at the airport weather station reached the magic number that has everyone sighing and moaning.

It appears I will be doing some traveling for Lions this year, though not as a dinner guest like before I had time to blog. What it means is I will probably be posting here less. But with any luck, I may have more pictures for the other place.
On the plus side, this isn't going to happen immediately and depends upon a number of other folks cooperation. The first jaunt is to SoCal (not quite to LA) for a one-day training session next week. It also requires some written homework. Both of those are almost enough to make me rethink this commitment.

Did I mention it's "officially ¹" hot? Now even by other measurements it will be deemed hot. The funny thing is it's like this around here every year.
So why does anyone make a big deal?
It's the local TV station.
They are constantly bringing in new reporters, who've never lived in the area and are unaccustomed to this climate. When they hire them, they don't tell about the higher temperatures in the mid to late summer. Heck! They don't even tell them that 90 degrees is below average. Then when these new reporters get on camera, they want to know, "Is it hot like this every year?"
Then the old timers laugh and say, "Oh, it gets hotter than this."
I'm amazed at how many former Redding reporters there are at other stations around the country. [Of course I realize the weather isn't the only factor in their moving]

This weekend Sacramento will be slightly cooler. I'm only guessing we won't notice much difference... and probably won't care anyway.

The reunion season's coming up. First off is the Twin Cousins thing we do every year in August. Next, in September we're going to attend my class reunion... a first for me. I've been to numerous class reunions, just never my own, until now. It will be really interesting for me to see folks I haven't seen since graduation. Then, in October, there's a reunion for all of the Past District Governors of California Lions districts, another opportunity to visit with friends.

I've got a story I started stored somewhere on my hard drive. I think I should finish it.

a good plan
.

¹ based on the NWS website

Odds and ends

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That book, the one I finished the other day, really messed up my reading. I just finished another and, as I was about to post its title on the sidebar, noticed it is already listed. It appears I read it sometime last fall. I seem to do this about once a year. I am fairly certain it won't happen with the one I've circled.



Meanwhile back at the ranch, I found another homepage image I hadn't posted.



I kinda like the sentiment of the sign.

...and over in Boston the heat's created a stir. It seems some folks are doing a freckle census.

sorry, no link
.

I can do that, too

_

'cept our radar isn't "Down for maintenance."

Then there's this alternative


They're the ones who differentiate between Sunny and Hot.
They should come around when it really is hot.

like 118°
.

Not even a re-post

.

I'm like Buck was yesterday, only worse. I don't even have a new photo for the other place. But I'm not going to leave you with nothing.
First, here's a quote

"I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end."¹

Then, there's this, which I'd thought about holding in reserve for my own use.


¹Margaret Thatcher

definitely gotta remember that line
.

Finished

.

To me, the most impressive thing about Atlas Shrugged is that it's kind of like the entire Harry Potter series in one book. What I mean is it's that long, but there's nary a break in continuity and the characters stay true to form. There certainly isn't as much action, and none of the characters are nearly as sympathetic.
I'm back to some lighter reading now, a thriller by James Patterson. I may not remember much about it next week, but who really cares?

Now that the Lions weekend is done, we can look forward to a jaunt to Sacramento next weekend to see family.

Speaking of Sacramento, I just recently found out the dates of the State Fair have been changed. The fair used to be held at the end of August up through Labor Day. Now it is held the last half of July. I've never been to Cal Expo, other than having been on the grounds for an equipment show some years ago.

Did I ever mention my high school is having a reunion this year? This one will be the first I've attended. I've been others class reunions, never one of my own.

It's getting close to time for the annual twin cousins get together. We're looking forward to that, too.

I haven't posted anything about the Giants lately... you know, the team that won the World Series last year. So anyway, the other teams is the division are still trying to catch up with them. Whoever coined the term, "It's torture" was right.

This has already become a short week.

time flies
.

Close... but no cigar

.

It never quite reached that illusive third digit yesterday. We were indoors anyway and really didn't notice. The next shot at topping 100, according to the experts, will be Wednesday or Thursday. We're not in any hurry

Seeing as how we are retired, weekends sometimes sneak up on us. It turns out it has been full of unplanned organized activity in the form of Lions District Meetings. We'd thought originally we might show for a bit yesterday afternoon and the cabinet session later this morning. It ended up being Friday night, all day yesterday, and today's session. It seems I'm more important than I though I was.

great to be wanted

Some other folks thoughts

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I've been reading Atlas Shrugged.









I saw this and immediately thought of a certain blogger on the East Coast



Ironic, innit?

the images will enlarge if you click them

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Odds and ends

_

That EIP provoked this post... but Google started it.

I think what I like best about this particular setup is the scene changes each time I log in and it gives me quick access to any number of things.



Ironically I forget regularly that there's access to the search engine right there at the top of the page.


I still have yet to come up with an answer for the question posed here.
Maybe it's because it keeps me out of bars?


Somebody emailed me the quote of the decade:



I'm thinking they mean the black print, not the red.


Yesterday I mentioned a book I'm reading. One thought that keeps coming to mind is the author must have been contracted to be paid by the word.


Have I mentioned the weather?
We are on out way from "Sunny" to "Hot."
The other day, the local meteorologist was gushing about how we'll probably get out of July having had only about five days of temps in the trip digits... like we've never had a "cool" July before?
I have my own theory - it's all running just a little behind schedule and August and September will make up for it.


Speaking of August... who was the rocket scientist that decided school should restart on August 15?

probably the same guy who
scheduled the summer sports
programs to end around the
first of June
.

Inconvenient - Pt. II

.

Remember this?
Well, we're still dealing with it.
Oh, the repairs are completed and have been for four months. But somewhere between here and the claims department of the insurance company is a black hole where communication disappears. We are fairly certain they know the job is finished. Maybe someday they will finish paying the they hired.
It used to be I could pick up the phone and make a local call to fix a situation like this. My agent was an acquaintance here in town. He retired, though, and somebody thought it would be a good idea to have the servicing agent more than 300 miles away... go figure. They've been of no assistance, failing to even return a phone call or acknowledge emails.
Yesterday part of the situation was resolved.
We'll see if it is ever entirely remedied.

ain't over 'til it's over
kinda like Atlas Shrugged
.

.
Something about yesterday...

We had a record high temperature here.

It just wasn't what anyone would expect.

The high for the day was 79 degrees, the lowest high temperature for July 18 ever.


Found this:

Yeah... GOML!

.

Sorry about the fine print

The link in the post goes HERE. The reason for this post is underlined.

What brings it up is a comment I made on another blog and I was urged to say, "Get off my lawn!"
That's not really what I wanted. What I'm looking for is some kind of middle ground where the so-called leaders of this nation will start working together instead of pulling away. It seems we have reached a point where anyone with any self-respect and true leadership capability just plain doesn't want to put themselves out there as a target for extremists at either end of the spectrum. Nobody can say anything without it being turned into a sound bite that means absolutely nothing like what they were speaking about. Worse, nobody seems to even want to deal with what's important.

all of you GTFOML
.

There... I said it

Things found while (blog)surfing - pt. II

.
...and on the same day, too:

From here

"If you thought the budget mess got settled over the weekend, you’re probably just an adorable person. Don’t ever change! We need wonderful, uncomplicated, optimistic people like you to keep Tinkerbell alive and whatnot."


"The NFL talks continue today amid optimism that a deal will be reached, since no politicians are involved."

pretty much sums it up
.

Things found while (blog)surfing

_

go ahead. click it.

Rather than reply as a comment among many other comments on the post, I thought maybe I should post my response here...

...someday

I really can't leave that alone because I'm easily distracted.

On July 4 I re-posted a list. At one time that list was longer than the sidebar on this blog.

too easily distracted?
.

Whatever

.
Suldog says he's "Easily Amused." Buck says he is easily entertained.
At times I'm easily distracted.
I just had an example a minute ago. Now what did I do with it?

ooh look... a squirrel
.

Oh... here it is!

Ummmm... alrighty then

.

Did someone say, "Bacon?"

not kosher
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Things we'll miss

_

From APOD. Click on the image to enlarge. Then click again.

I was catching up on some things I did see while we were away. This image of Atlantis over the Bahamas is a keeper.

wonder what camera was used
.

Family pets

.

It was here the granddog and grandcat were introduced. I suppose it is only fair to post images.

This is Archie



Usually he can be found chasing a ball or looking for dropped scraps of food.


This is Gilbert



He's not hard to find either... unless he gets outside. Even then his bell gives away his location.

mutual respect, not friendship
.

news from doswell: “I’ll Pull Those Tennis Balls Right off your Walke...

news from doswell: “I’ll Pull Those Tennis Balls Right off your Walke...: "Give up the tennis balls, granny. Democrats Sound True Alarm of how GOP plans to Marginalize Seniors The ongoing stalemate on the cong..."

click the link

Hey kids, what day is it?

.

That's right... it's on a Wednesday this month.

g'day, mate
.

Did I mention we were going away?

.

Yeah, we took off for a week.
And how propitious was that?
While we were away, we missed a bunch of triple digit days. We did, however, find ourselves enjoying Seattle's hottest day of the year. The temperature reached 83 degrees on Wednesday.



It seems the difficulty I was having with the blog editor only occurs on Grandma Skip's laptop. The main frustration is more to do with how long it takes to get post made than anything else... that and laptop keyboards vex me as well.


A lot of the sights we saw in Seattle were from inside the shuttle buses.




We were at the Lions Clubs International convention, along with about 15,000 other folks from around the world. We were told it was one of the largest conventions ever in Seattle... and that the parade was the largest ever.


Condoleezza Rice was the keynote speaker at the final plenary session.


I'll post some photos over at R,M&P.


The only drawback to coming home is there are so many things that need almost immediate attention... not the least of which is email bills watering picking up the apricots which have fallen off the tree and harvesting those still on the tree before they fall off.


We're away again next month for the annual twin cousins birthday celebration at yet another secret location.

some secret...
a lot of people know
.

Home!

.

That's it.
We're home.

.

.

First off I'm checking to see if blogger... or this infernal browser... is cooperating.


It's not. I keep getting extra html tags creating more white space than even I want.


We're on the road again in the morning. So, hopefully, I will be back on the desktop tomorrow evening and will see if really limited to this browser and the laptop


Grandma Skip and I are kind of wondering if the apricots are still on the tree at home. They still weren't quite ready when we left, so there may be some hope they're still in the tree and not on the ground.


The granddog, Archie, appears to have taken a liking to me... the grandcat, too, but to a lesser extent

the kids may be ready for me to leave

We am here

.

Well, really we're somewhere. The convention ended yesterday. I actually saw all three of the folks I set out to meet. One of them has been an Internet acquaintance for about ten years.

There might have been a little more action here if it wasn't for a strange economic phenomenon. It seems hotels have things all bass-ackward. It seems the more they charge for a room, the less is offered ammenity-wise... free stuff anyway. In fact, the more they charge for a room, the more it costs to access the Web from said room.

It was a nice room though, on an upper floor.

The Puget Sound is out there somewhere.

I've pretty much determined I really dislike using Internet Explorer for editing the blog... either that or Blogger has added som bells and whistles I am not yet aware of.

Except for a brief drizzle Thursday morning the weather has bee great.

I quit...
darn editor