Wildcards

When we got to Jerome, we knew the people would be different, based on the fact that the city was crammed on either side of a hillside roadway.

We saw tattoo parlors, reiki energy healing salons, artists' studios, and restaurants that boasted ghosts. We did not find the place called The Asylum, which I assumed was once a real asylum, and now featured concerts and live music.

Maybe next time.

Old Mining Valley

In Colorado, remnants of old mines seem to be obvious many years after the mining has ended.

In this valley on Highway 89 in Arizona, there was only a small clue up on the hill to show that there used to be any mining activity in the area.

The view down the valley was fairly pristine.



Then we went around the corner and entered the town of Jerome, that was once a huge copper mining town, then a ghost town, and now an artist colony and tourist destination.

Granite Patch

Just past Prescott there were two lakes, Willow Creek Reservoir and Watson Lake, where the terrain changed again.

There was a field of really pretty granite, light pink in color, that only lasted about 5 miles.

Don't ask me to explain it, I'm not a Geologist. It's science.

Switching Over

The drive up highway 89 from Wickenburg to Sedona had a surprise. Somewhere past Wilhout before we got to Prescott the terrain changed abruptly.

The vegetation was mostly treeless, dominated by grasses and brush, and we went over a low mountain pass and drove into a pine forest.

I was surprised how much cooler and wetter it was in the mountains than down in the south by Phoenix.

Fuzzy Desert Plants

These desert flowers look more like seaweed than land plants.

Saguaro Land

We finally got outside of Phoenix and started to see the Saguaro cactuses (who actually uses the word "cacti"?) which finally made us feel that we had arrived.

The Saguaro blossom is the Arizona state flower and can be distilled into a powerful alcohol similar to tequila, or dried and smoked causing mild hallucinations similar to peyote. Saguaro is an ancient Quahatika Indian word meaning "that big thing poked me with a needle". Saguaros can be hollowed out to make a canoe, as long as you don't pick the side with a branch sticking out (don't need a rudder in a canoe) and if you can find a body of water in Arizona. The cactus has a skeleton-like inside, which was a favorite of the Apache Indians, because they could get inside of the cactus and put their arms up two branches and cut little eye holes and sneak right up on unsuspecting cowboys and poke them in the a** before they knew what was happening.

All of the above facts have been verified on Mikeypedia.

Sun City Retirement

The old stereotype was that old people would go to Arizona to retire. This is Sun City Grand.

I took the picture because it was a nice display of palms, the first pretty thing we saw after driving down Grand Avenue to get out of town, past all the strip joints like Mr. Lucky's (which was not so lucky, it was boarded up) and another one that had a semi-pornographic lure tag to get people to come in on Sundays (and presumably get more than they bargained for).

Hell Truck

This truck had a cool paint scheme.

It looks like primeval axes chopped an opening to the underworld, with all the heat and flames and tortured souls.

I won't say it was like being in Arizona, because it wasn't that hot in the morning, but it was like driving down Grand Avenue to get out of Phoenix.

Tornado Cactus

Here's a cactus in the desert garden at Matt's that looks like it's grown into the shape of a tornado.

Good thing it can't move around like one.

Matt's Big Breakfast

When we got to Phoenix for Molly's wedding in Sedona, we stopped at Matt's Big Breakfast. It was this tiny little diner in downtown Phoenix, yet it had a nice garden outside and amazing food.

It was 8am in the morning on a Friday, yet it was not busy. There was a 10 minute wait, even though the place only had about 8 tables. We saw that some Food Channel guy had been there and raved about it. We had a fish in the fishbowl experience when the little girl waiting outside was looking in at us.

Whose Goose is Cooked?

We met at the Golf Course before going to the Royals game.

We noticed that the Canadian Geese had goslings that were almost full grown. That's when I got this picture.

Later that week, Paul went golfing and had an encounter with a gosling. He was driving his golf cart up to the clubhouse, having just finished the last hole, looking down at his score card. A family of geese was crossing the cart path, and Paul expected them to clear out of the way, so he didn't pay attention. They were splitting to the left and right, and he thought he was parting the Goose Sea like Moses. His passenger claimed that he heard a thump and that one gosling didn't know which way to go at the last second which left him in the path of the golf cart. When he got to the clubhouse, he looked back and saw a gosling get up, wobble around, fall down, repeat the process a couple of times, then fall down and stay down.

His buddies were laughing about it and razzing him, and he was unaware that he had hit the goose and surprised about the whole situation.

Apparently, the Get Paul Rohner At Any Cost faction has cobbled up a scenario where Paul was high fiving his friends and stating that he hated geese. There were also some waitresses at the club that were crying over the killed gosling, and apparently the grand poohbah of the club was there to witness the slaughter.

Now Paul has hired Robert Shapiro, Johnnie Cochran, and F. Lee Bailey to help him beat the rap. At stake is his club membership. If found guilty, he could be busted down to ball washer and made to serve 400 hours of country club community service. They are even considering turning him over to the Fish & Wildlife authorities, where he could be fined as much as two sides of venison, and made to nurse orphan goslings in the No Goose Left Behind program. Rumors are that the defense will center around the notion that "If the goose didn't scoot, you can't give Paul the boot."

Stay tuned for future developments.

On Deck

Here we are, the Jones boys, around the picnic table, on the deck, at the cabin, on the lake, for Memorial Day.

The cabin is Uncle Paul's and the Lake is Marion County Lake.

Going around the table from left to right, here's what they are thinking:
1. "Cheese!"
2. This hand tastes really good.
3. I'm bored
4. Damn, I'm cute!

Toddler Beachwear

You can make fun of it all you like. Which one looks the best? Case closed.

Boys on the Beach

Here's Joey & Cole on the Marion County beach.

They have no idea how much fun they are having. Wait until 8 years from now and they'll be talking about their old days on the beach.

Smudgie's Choice

Question: When you're a 30 pound cat, where do you sit?

Answer: Anywhere you want.

Smudge likes computer time.

New Neighbors

Mark down 5/14/09 on the calendar. This is almost 5 years to the day that the last people moved out next door.

Our new neighbor, Dan, has three daughters who like to ride their bikes around on the tennis court.

I have not met the wife & mother of the family.

Crazy Carp Day

I took Zach by the Lake Blue Springs Marina the other day, to feed the Carp.

It almost looks like you could walk over the fish, they are so thick.



I'm not sure whether Zach was mesmerized or unimpressed. It could go either way.



We also got to see ducks walking on the docks ...




...and a massive martin house full of birds flying in and out.








Then an thick thunderstorm rolled in and it rained like someone was dumping a bucket on us.

Drive & Sleep

Zach usually conks out in the car.

Nowadays, they make you put the car seat in the back seat, facing backwards. I'm sure someone did extensive studies involving tiny little crash test dummies to figure out that our precious cargos will get there in better shape in this spot.

The disadvantage is that I can't see Zach's face. So sometimes, I hold my camera over the seat and take a picture of him. He's usually sleeping when I do this.

Wayne Newton

There was a carving of a Cowboy out of a tree trunk in Newton Iowa.

It took me a little to figure out what Dick meant when he said it was Wayne Newton. (John) Wayne (of) Newton. That little filly almost got past me until I roped it in.

Kinze

Apparently, these guys burned corn cobs to heat their plant for a long time, until all the Johnny come latelys figured it out and made corn cobs scarce.

While that is an interesting story, you can't tell anything about it from looking on the outside of the plant. What is apparent is the cool Dr. Suess trick of stacking he progressively tinier trailers up to make a cool "Trailer Tree". I want one in my yard next Christmas.

Totem Pole

I'm not sure why there are Innuit Totem Poles at a Casey's off I-80 in Iowa.

Perhaps the glaciers pushed them down that far. Maybe Casey was an Eskimo. I found out that Eskimo is considered derogatory, it means Eaters of Raw Meat.

Field of Dandelions

"If you build it, we will make Dandelion Wine out of it"

It's going to be a new movie this summer with Kevin Costco and Jimmy Earl Johnson. The scene where they get blind drunk on the wine and see ghosts in the cornfield cannot be missed!

Great Grandma and the Peanut M&M

Here's the latest generation gap photograph of Zach with his Great-Grandma Meier.

They had some fun together. I know he looks like a plain M&M, but since we call him Peanut, he has to be a peanut M&M.

Is This Iowa?

Is it Iowa or maybe heaven?

This farmer apparently thinks they are one and the same, because he's Done Roving. (To understand that last statement, you may have to click on the photo to blow it up, then read the barn to the left.)

Barn Wood

I took a picture of this barn while driving by. Notice that it is slightly blurry from the fly-by nature of the shot.

I did not notice until later that it looks like they took the siding off of the barn to sell it. It's like a great big naked building, standing in the field in it's boxer shorts.

Amana Colonies

We went to Iowa for Mother's Day and took a trip over to Cedar Rapids to see Andrea's Grandmother. Zach has one living great-Grandmother, which is more than anyone in my extended family can say.

On the way there, we went through the Amana Colonies. Andrea had always thought they were Amish, but Dick described them as more like socialists. I read the history on their movement, and I still don't understand it. It was a community property society up until the depression when the system collapsed. At some point, it became a corporation. They have lots of restaurants and craft stores, with quaint old houses with immaculant yards and beautiful flowers. We'll have to go sometime when we can really get out and look around.

Strike Market

This used to be a bowling alley called Strike Market.

This was our hang out in High School. It had video games and pool tables, so we could waste hours and vast amounts of quarters there.

I remember playing Asteroids, Galaga, and Space Defense (or was it Star Defense?) mostly. We very rarely bowled there. They had food, but I don't remember getting it very often. There were adults there, but it wasn't a problem with us irritating them or them cramping our style.

It doesn't surprise me that it went out of business. My classmates and I are going to reopen it as a bar with live entertainment.

Swine Flu

We had to slap a decorated mask on our fearless leader when he arrived in the office today with what has to be the Swine Flu.

It's supposed to be a swine and crossbones symbol, but most people don't spot the curly tail.

We're not all tough like Paul (as he pointed out to us), so we had to force him to go home. We avoided having the CDC put us under quarantine.

Thanks Karen Conrad

Here's one of the outfits Karen Conrad sent us.

I love the whole big-fish-eats-little-fish theme.

Karen was an art teacher at the Junior High who worked across the hall from my Mom. She was one of the most popular teachers in Junior High, always up and happy and excited.

Blimp

We hired the MetLife blimp to circle the office to help drum up business.

Unfortunately, it ran into the light pole in our parking lot. It was like the Hindenburg, all over again. Except without the explosion.

Wet Lush Spring

We have oscillated between flood and drought in this area in the last 20 years. We had record floods in 1993 and 1995, and the worst drought I remember from 2001 to 2008 (with some relief here and there).

This summer has been very wet and lush, and I have to say I prefer an excess of water to a lack of it. Everything looks so green and healthy and freshly washed.

Hidden Valley

I've lived here most of my life and thought I knew all about the area.

It was surprising to find a rural farm valley, complete with cattle, a nice huge pond, a beautiful field full of wheat, and a neat old barn and silo.

If you go about a mile in any direction, you're in a populated cityscape. It's like finding a pirate chest washed up on a beach.

Off the Beaten Path

When you follow the crowd, it is sometimes mind numbingly frustrating.

In figuring out my options of how to get from work to my son's day care, I pulled up a map and found a little back road that I thought might work as a short cut.

The road wraps behind an old apple orchard, past 4 enormous mansions, through a spot where a stream has eroded a whole lane off the road, past an old fashioned farm in a valley, and past this log cabin.

It's still being used. I wonder how old it is and what it was originally used for.

Little Red Barn

Sometimes, when you take a little detour, you find some really neat things. I'm not sure why they always used to paint the old barns red.

I like the little red shed that is like the son of or little brother of the red barn.