Democrats smile bright blue in Phoenix, Arizona

Huffington Post’s Fundrace 2008 graphics show that even while outnumbered and surrounded by a sea of red, Democratic contributors put a cheery blue smiley face right next to Scottsdale, AZ.

Back road fishing.

For Tonya's birthday, we got her all geared up with fishing supplies. Rod, reel, line, hooks, bobbers, sinkers, worms, the whole deal. (Have you seen this PowerBait® stuff?)

Saturday comes along and we have plans to drive a couple of hours to some killer secret trout fishing holes a serious angler friend of mine was kind enough to tell us about. We hop into the Jeep with Molly and we hit the road. Guess what!? Molly gets car sick! Molly gets car sick a lot. We made it less than thirty minutes away from the house and it was clear this trip was over...at least with Molly.

Take Two - Sunday - Tonya's Birthday.

We're on the road again. This time Molly is home happily sleeping. We decide on trying our fishing luck at a set of much closer lakes. After deciding to avoid Bartlett Lake where all of the speed boats, jet skis, and general non-sense was heading, we took a left and headed for Horseshoe Lake. There are some really cool camping sights along the Verde River that is dammed up to make these lakes. In our exploring we found ourselves off of the map and driving some unnamed tiny back road where I was glad to have my 4x4.

We must have been in the right place because after forty-five minutes of seeing no sign of anyone along the big road, the small road, and the I'm-not-sure-this-is-a-good-idea road, we reach the bank of the Verde River and come across several sets of people with the same idea in mind.

We set up and put bait to water.

As it seems we were the last to arrive, the fishing spots with nice shade trees were occupied. Our's was a bit sunny early in the afternoon, but the tailgate of the Jeep came to the rescue.

Several hours pass by. We try the PowerBait®. We try the worms. We try the chicken livers (yes). All with no success; not even a nibble. Things were getting grim. We ran out of beer. I feared that Tonya would have no birthday victory over the fish. If it weren't for the aerial acrobatics of the half dozen huge turkey vultures (gotta love the T.V.) that seemed to have found something on the other bank, we may have given up.

But then out of the blue (or into the muddy brown as was this case) Tonya's bobber disappeared. It was an actual fish; just as planned; it's really happening!

Tonya lands a channel catfish!

Is it just me, or is the catfish smiling for the photo too?

Being the true conservationist that she is, Tonya returned the catfish to the river and continued her round of alternating exclamations: "Holy crap!" and "I caught a fish!"

Further hours passed, the T.V. moved on and I learned the hard way why they call it "fishing" instead of "catching". But what a great time! We had a breeze blowing across the Verde River on a fantastic early fall day. I got to relax and watch a bobber bob with my beautiful and triumphant wife while the shadows stretched out and the sun dipped low behind us.

Maybe next time I'll catch a fish...maybe I won't...but I don't think it will matter at all.

We met the new neighbor!

Last night, Molly ran off and introduced herself to our newest neighbor. To our surprise, this neighbor didn't act very neighborly. He hissed (and maybe spit) at poor Molly shocking us all. In any case, I figured I'd put up a few videos of what we have to live with here in our corner of the desert.

He's coming right at me!!

Traveling the poolside

For a reference of size, that skimmer cover he walks over is 10" in diameter.

Whisper - don't let him hear you.

This one is my favorite, just for Tonya's comment.


What I think we are dealing with here is a Mexican Blonde (or Desert Blonde) Tarantula (Aphonopelma chalcodes)

They say they are venomous but it is not dangerous to humans, and this species can make good pets...you up for it?

Frida on Frida...an intensive study.

My name is Molly!

New Puppy!

The swans say hello to Collin & Tonya

Yesterday...the rains came

Frida

Ripple.com - Great idea; wish it wasn't just Australian

Toña

Fred

That is a serious size beverage that he's working on.

Sunrise

Don't go to the store on Christmas eve....just don't do it.

This is the line for the express lanes!

ICE!

(not frost!) on my picnic table...IN AZ!!!

It froze my hose solid and made the cool deck around my pool dangerously slick.

Lumber beware.

Early birthday gift from me to me!

Thank you so much! It is exactly like I wanted!

The Unknown Lion's Fan.

This at the end of a 17-10 beating at the hands of the Cardinals of all teams. His signs says "Fire Millen".

Rolling Stones

A view from our seats just prior to the show last night:

And this from just after the show began:

Fantastic show...even with the Radio Shack ads.
They still sound great. If you ever needed to explain the term "Rock Stars" to an alien life form, pointing in the general direction of the Rolling Stones is a good start.

Big thanks to the G-Man for the tickets.

Prediction from beyond...

Hunter predicted the outcome of last night's election years ago:

"When Failure starts to feel Normal in your life or your work or even your darkest vices, you won't have to go looking for trouble, because trouble will find You. Count on it."

Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Hey Rube, Page 2, ESPN.com, 9/16/03

John the Merciless

So...John decided to shave his head. It looks good and all, but in this blurry photo he thinks he looks like Uncle Fester:



I think with the goatee he looks like Ming the Merciless: