The Blues

New Mexico & Arizona were grand - and now we're back.

I'll keep posting the occasional picture - I need the blues!

Whoever equated blue with sadness was certainly out of their mind.

Apache Trail

The most stunning and terrifying drive we've ever been on.
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Nofsinger's B & B

We're making our way back home - old school.
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Onward

Gene and I are both about relaxed out & thinking of home.
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The Neigh-bors

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Good Morning

At Casitas de Gila
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Getting There

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NM Straight Ahead

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Sliding Through The Thaw

The thaw has come, the Kindle has come, I'm about to leave for New Mexico, and there's a frozen dead goat wrapped in a tarp in the back of the barn. Don't be judgmental. Death and Kindles and vacations show up and have to be dealt with, thaw or no thaw. The goat is frozen solid, so I think he's good for at least a week. Small, 15-pound turkeys take days to defrost and we're talking a 200-pound goat. The question is: should I tell the housesitter or just let that little piece of information slide? She won't be back rummaging around the barn and god-willing no feral animal will start dispersing his carcass across the yard. I'm not good with small moral dilemmas.

As for the Kindle. so far so good. I can adjust the print size for my middle-aged eyes and puportedly take notes, although I haven't tried. I'm enjoying Sherman Alexie's The Business of Fancydancing. All of Bukowski's work is Kindled, so that might be my next stop. Then maybe Mark Doty. I'm taking suggestions. Most of the really old stuff is available for free.

I can't propel my mind into New Mexico yet, but that's probably for the best. I wouldn't get anything done. Except I need to pack a suitcase with somethings besides a walking stick and a hydration daypack. Maybe I should start with socks and work my way up from there.

The thaw has also brought a quiet deep enough to hear the trains. I'm thinking of putting together a train collection, new and old. We'll see. We'll see. I'm sliding.

Kirk @ Milano's on V-Day

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Valentine 852

I found this wild Number Dictionary by Bruno Furst in my closet, copyright 1946, 1957. It literally fell into my hands as I was cleaning. I don't know where it came from. We've had a parade of people who have lived with us at various times and they've left caches of stuffs that appear at odd moments. The Number Dictionary was in a box of goods that included some 1960s vintage Cavalier and Rogue men's magazines that I know were in the house when we moved in, some 25 years ago. I don't recall seeing the Number Dictionary before, though.

You could probably make your own number dictionary, but the one I have works like this:

1 = t, d, th
2 = n
3 =m
4 = r
5 = l
6 = j, sh, ch, dg, soft g
7 = k, ck, hard g, hard c, q
8 = f, v, ph
9 = p, b
0 = z, s, soft c

As an example, here's the entry for the number 852:

affluence, avalanche, effluence, Flanders, feline, flank, flannel, flinch, flint, flounce, fluency, philanthropist, valiant, valentine, villian, villainy, violence, violin, voluntary, vulnerable.

Everything you need to make your Valentine poem except the Elmer's glue and scissors. Have fun.

Berlusconi, et alii

A tom-cat democracy
-
Parliamo di calcio e le donne
-
Let's talk about
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The Steamfitters Local 499
--The Steelers
-
This straightforward crowd
-
An empty store-
House
-
A strategy
-
A way to stay employed

The South Shore

Pack it, a taste of mule
----
The East Chicago man with an Egyptian jawbone
-----------saand a Harley Davidson jacket
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Opines across the aisle
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She was too beautiful to be hooking
--
We're all too beautiful
To be on this train
--
The Notre Dame law students
Having a sidebar
--
My standard of living
--
No, ma'am, I don't have a pen or a pain killer
--
I have a 4x2 Japanese silk screen print
From the Art Institute that is teetering
--
Above my head all four seasons of fishes
--
And flowers in progression
--
The last stop is South Bend
-------You won't miss it
---
A long quietude

Football

Good morning. I'm here today to call out sick. Obviously, I'm not getting enough sympathy at home. Gene says, yes, your face looks like a hyper-inflated football. Would you like me to sign it? I say, no. Then he gives me a list of sexual remedies that will certainly cure a throbbing face and drain my sinus cavities. I say, I'm going to see my doctor. He says, you go.

The South Shore To Chicago

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Choose A Word

(The defense attorney and his expert psychologist.)

Q. What distinguishes a sexual assault that arises from a paraphilic urge than from one caused by other issues?

A. Well, therein lies the rub.

A Little At A Time

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