Homer'sWorld

Only 310 more houses to photograph for the National Register forms. Why did I volunteer to do this?
























Bunny is growing up.

I should save half off my property taxes next year- that's about $700 dollars that I will be able to invest in my house. Things that need to be done:

- exterminator to take care of the termites in the laundry room rafter
- repair the wood rot on my French doors
- replicate the two front windows, which are sagging with age
- have new screens made for the window
- paint the exterior and trim
- patch the stucco first
- repoint the two fireplaces
- rewire the main part of the house
- refinish floors (again)
- die of old age before all these things get done

Jeffrey S. and I went hiking up at Reddington Pass.





















Reddington Pass.



The creek was flowing and there were lots of wildflowers.















Jeffrey S.

And some naked peoples.




















Getting a sunburn.

Not many birds- saw some crows and vultures.




















Unidentified flower.

I got a litte sunburnt.




















Mexican goldpoppy.

And the blowing sand and pollen made me sneezy.




















Brittlebush.

It was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

I don't get the whole "gay face" thing. Does Leno ask other actors to make "soldier face" or "housewife face" or politician face," depending on what roles they have previously played?


Orange blossoms.

Maybe I'm just not paying attention and when I walk around everyone knows I'm queer because of some subtle way my lips are pursed, eyes crossed, and my left cheek puckered. Who knew?


A poppy in Vince's garden.

I don't have functioning gaydar in Arizona anyways.


Joey and Daddy.

The quickest way to tell I'm gay, listen to me talk to my cats.

While I was busy saving the world at work, this female ground squirrel was watching me through the little window in my office.


Squirrel!

She was probably wishing I would come outside in the beautiful weather and give her some bird seed.

I accidently heard President Clusterfuck yipping on NPR sometime in the last couple of days. "Economy is still great, let's cut the taxes some more."

Fuck me with a garden rake. Here in Tucson:

- furniture stores are having amazing sales (no one is buying furniture)
- houses are dropping in value and many aren't selling
- grocery prices, especially bread and dairy products, have risen dramatically
- gas is cheapest in the country at $3.15, but filling the tank up now costs more that $30.

I'm doing alright, basically because I behave myself and don't tend to spend money on frivolous things. I don't know how other people are able to get by, especially people who live out in the country, like my sister and mother back in Michigan.

Only 300 more days of President Clusterfuck. Wonder what kind of trouble he'll get us into during that time?

Pizza and a bear.

Brady and I hung out and talked and watched a movie and had pizza.



Brooklyn Pizza.

He had pepperoni and I opted for olive, onion, and spinach. He made faces every time I pointed the camera at him, so no picture.

We chatted about travel, weight gain and loss, whether Will Smith is hot, and bladder cancer (avoid if possible). It was nice to spend some time with Brady, although I was a total allergy-fest afterwards.

My father, back row, third from left.



The funny thing- he really hated being a farmer. He was awful at it, we never made any money, he had poor business sense.

Those years on the farm made me who I am, in many ways (not afraid of hard work, able to identify strange artifacts, an appreciation for animals), but I hated every fucking minute of it.

And yet I find that I wouldn't mind having a chicken coop and a nice garden, except nice Midwestern gardens don't grow in Tucson.

Battlestar Gallactica weekend. Watched five DVDs worth of episode, season 3. One more to go. Brady and Patrick have fancy cable so I'll be watching Season 4 with those guys. I'm such a science fiction nerd.

The odometer reached 100,000 on the way to the airport this morning.


Miles.

Jimbo's fourth annual visit is over and the house is quiet. We had a fun time, as always. He got to see some new birds and I hosted a fun party. The cats had a vomit-fest this morning and one night I woke Jim up due to a back ache and a loud computer fan, but those were little things.


Jimbo does living history at the Presidio Park.

I'm going to DC (and TJ and I are going to explore Baltimore) in July or early August. I'll get to hang out with Jimbo and Archerr and who knows who else. I'm glad I have such good friends.

Arizona Highways.

The April issue of Arizona Highways has a story about the two burials I excavated last October. The story is well done, with only a few factual errors.


Photo by Ed McCain.

Brian was kind enough to extract the photo for me.

LATER: Email me if you'd like a pdf file of the article.

Cost of making me cranky: $8.00.

1). Car failed emissions on Thursday, February 28.
2). Car sensor fixed at dealership on Monday, March 1. Told to drive at least 200 miles before going back to re-test.
3). Car retested on Friday, March 7 and passed. Registration mailed in on the same day.
4). It takes until Friday, March 14 for them to open the envelope.
5). They fine me $8 for mailing it in late.
6). To refute the fine I have to go to a DMV office with the documentation that I passed emissions.
7). Said documentation was sent to Phoenix with my registration stuff, as required, and apparently discarded by them.
8). Now, that was easy.

Or to do it for free, call me a liar, a thief, or a cult member. That is also easy.

We stopped on our way to Phoenix at the ostrich farm.


Lorakeet.

For $5.00 you get a container of large green pellets and a little container of nectar for the lorakeets to drink.


No teeth.

I impressed the impressionable teenage girls by feeling the ostriches by hand and even letting them put their enormous mouths on my hand. Their "bite" is nothing compared to our old goose Oscar, now that was a bite!


Donkey.

The donkeys looked melancholy. We did not go into the deer area because they looked like they had mange. We then returned to our journey north.


Darin, Jimbo, and Homer.

We met up with Darin, former blogger Chris, and Chris' boyfriend Michael at Roscoe's and had a few drinky-poos and some deep-fried "food." It was nice to sit and chat. No one recognized us. Later we went to another bar and then we went and watched the Phoenix rugby team roll on the ground. The drive back to Tucson was uneventful.

Too tired to post.

Ostrich!

Whirlwind trip to Phoenix and back.

Oh Lord. A busy day of bird and turtle watching, lunch, shopping, reading, dinner, dessert, and back home. I am pooped! Jimbo has some pictures of the wildlife we saw at the Sweetwater Wetlands, which they could rename the Sweetwater Fartlands because of the somewhat fetid smell. I liked the turtles the best, as always.

Tomorrow a trip north to Phoenix to see Darrin and Brian!

The Party in Six Pictures:


Ray, Richard, Cobban, and David.



Decorating ensues.



Gallus gallus ova, boiled and decorated.


The guests prepare for the Quest in the rain. Jimbo, Cobban, Vince, and Jim have blogs.


The Quest for the Egg.



The winners: Patrick (1st), Andrew (3rd), and Zoe (2nd).

Everybody had a nice time. Thanks for coming!

Rage-inducing lemon meringue!!!

It's like holding a bomb!

Seven egg white meringue! Towering! Seven egg whites, count 'em! Good lord, it's probably illegal in Idaho. Jimbo is lucky that it didn't come alive and start it's own blog! Possible titles, "Defying Meringue-icity" or "Lemon Meringue Tales" or maybe "Awesome, Dude!" but the last one is probably already taken.

Can you tell I'm been eating malted milk balls?!!!

How to make Puff mad.



Outside Kitty poses.

Seeing that human feeding Outside Kitty and then taking a picture with him. Meanwhile, Puff is meowing very angrily through the screen door.

Jimbo is here, we went out to the Venture Inn and had a nice time chatting the leather men up. He's sleeping in and in a few minutes I'm making potato salad and 4-bean salad and frosting and maybe an angelfood cake (because I managed to buy too many eggs).

Non-Denominational Boiled Egg Decorating and Backyard Egg Hunt Party pictures later today.

A decision has been made. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Jimbo also asked for a lemon meringue pie and I swear, it will have the largest, fluffiest meringue pie ever! Huge! Awe-inspiring and rage-inducing!

It is a good thing my mother isn't here because I'd have two or three little Chihuahuas running around the house. Alright, I just don't know about the crazy news lately. People with 800 dogs in a triple-wide and a woman growing a toilet seat and crazy Geraldine running her mouth at a bazillion miles an hour. Crazy!

Those little critters would just get in the way Sunday when I have my annual Non-Denominational Egg Decorating and Backyard Egg Hunt! I hope nobody gets maimed this year!

1970.


First grade.

Mrs. Gray had us draw a picture of ourselves as adults, "What you want to be when you grow up," she said. I drew a scientist with a magnifying glass.

Today someone asked my opinion, "You're a scientist, what do you think about this?" he said. I almost laughed because of that Recent Incident.

I still have the little pug nose (thanks Mummy!). I wish I had a plaid shirt like that. They had good boys' fashions back in the early 1970s. Our pants always stayed up and we often wore clip-on ties to class, carefully removing them for recess. I also remember that blowing milk was considered a very naughty thing to do. I wonder what Mrs. Gray would think about me now. She was certainly a mean old thing, but I suppose thirty years of first graders will do that to anybody.

1907.


Byron, David, and Harold.

David only has a few months to live. My grandfather is Harold, with the long hair. I imagine that when he looked at this picture later in life it was with a mixture of embarassment and sadness.

The Big Question.

What is more important- that the Governor of New York (may have) fucked a prostitute or that five United States soldiers died in Iraq today?

This is why I feel so alienated by the news media.

I happened to catch CNN at the airport in January and was horrified at the sheer stupidity of the shit thrown at the audience. Pretty talking heads screeching over and over again about the latest blonde woman kidnapped/missing/murdered while boring, unphotogenic stories, like the massacre of people in Darfu or Iraq gets a little line along the bottom of the screen because you don't want to upset sensible peoples' sensibilities by showing what happens when you throw a metal scrap at human flesh at a couple hundred miles an hour.

Yes, it is disappointing that Mr. Spitzer chatted up a hooker while he was in DC. But is anyone surprised? Men are pigs, they often think with their genitals. How many of the reporters and anchor people excitedly relaying this garbage to us are pure and untainted. And if there are pure and untainted, why? I'm immediately suspicious of people who claim moral superiority over others. People have instincts that sometimes (often) drive them to do socially prescribed things. Goodness knows, I've probably done some things I shouldn't have.

Fu manchu Sunday.


Heading down to visit with Cobban and Ray. Last Thursday I had dinner with Brian and a beer with John and his bf Jason. I feel like a socialite or a debutante or something similar.

Jimbo's coming in a week. What kind of dessert should I make?

A). Yellow cake with chocolate frosting.
B). Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
C). Angelfood cake with lemon curd.
D). Coconut cake with coconut cream cheese frosting.

Vote in the comment section, and help make history.

Calm moment.



Look at the pretty poppies. They smell nice. Pretty colors. Nice. Calming. Oh! Birds are singing too, but you can't hear it. Everything is nice outside. Pretty poppies.

I dread John McCain becoming the president. I don't have any respect for the man, he's my United States Senator and he fell off his pedastal over the last couple of years. War-mongerer, panderer, suck-up to the Bush conservatives.

The chances are very slim that Hillary Clinton can beat John McCain. He's branded as a war hero, a maverick, a straight talker. A lot of that is bullshit, but there are a lot of voters who want a war hero in a time of "war." Speaking of which, exactly who are we at war with? I thought the Iraqi government was our ally?

Hillary Clinton is branded as the wife of Bill Clinton by many, many people. Many of these people hate her. My own mother can't stand her for reasons she cannot explain.

If a Republican becomes president our country is fucked. Endless war. War with Iran. Poor people can just go fuck themselves. Gay people, especially, are fucked and not in a good way. McCain will reward his base by putting very conservative people in the Supreme Court. You can wave goodbye to whatever civil rights straight folks might throw at us gays.

So this is what I have been wondering. Do people who support Clinton honestly, realistically think she can be elected? It seems completely impossible to me.

Spring time. The first daffofil has bloomed. I have tulips and irises poking up too.


Daffodil.

Today's task- decorate some cookies created with Grandma F.'s cutters.



They didn't come out as well as I hoped, but are still cute.

Rob asked how Mama Cat is doing. I'm still grinding up pills, mixing with milk, and squirting it in her mouth twice a day. She hates, hates, hates that. Also the eye drops. Sometimes she cries out because the pills are nasty.

Her eyes were almost back to normal and then it started again. The animal opthamalogist doesn't know why it is happening. Every test possible except for bone marrow (for cancer) was done. If she has cancer I won't do the chemo thing- I heard what happened to my co-workers cats and Mama Cat doesn't need that.

She can maneuver around really well. Once in a while in the middle of the night she gets frustrated and cries out and I go find her and put her in bed with me. She likes to sleep on my chest and will lie there and purr quietly. I wish she wasn't going through this, but at least she's getting the best care possible.

Post 1523. A few weeks ago I sent Moby an email alerting him that someone in Tucson was using his roommate's pic on a CraigsList advert. Moby emailed me back to say that he got the message while he and his roommate were eating dinner, they had a laugh about it. A while ago, I sent another blogger an email to tell him that his pics were being used on an online profile site. Brian and I were chatting late last night and he mentioned that he's seen pictures he's taken used on someone's personal ad too.

Really, this isn't all that funny.

If you are going to steal pictures of someone off the internet and claim that they are you, the smart thing is to pick pictures of a nobody. Don't use those of porn stars, well known celebrities, authors, bloggers, bloggers' roommates, bloggers' mothers, and bloggers' mothers' hairdresser's first cousin twice removed from Romania.

Actually the smart thing is to not steal pictures of anybodies or nobodies. Don't use other pictures in place of your own. It is stupid. It is deceitful. It makes all your claims of being truthful vanish instantly. You have the option of 1). using your own picture, 2). not using a picture at all, or 3). using someone else's picture. Numbers 1 and 2 are acceptable. Number 3, that's a mega no-no.

In conclusion, that is my opinion on the topic.


Yes, it's me.