Homer'sWorld

According to this list, I'm supposed to get candy/iron or wood for my sixth anniversary.
























Validation picture.

During the past year many blogs have passed away, including quite a few that were around back when I started posting. I'm becoming a senior citizen blogger (although Jimbo is still my elder). Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate your comments and friendship.

So I didn't go to Canada and someone went ballistic and really, you can only take so much and those who are in the know, they know this has been going on for a while. Cryptic, yes, but it isn't fair to detail just my side of the story. But, yes, I wish him all the happiness in the world, a world that will not include me in any way or form because I don't care to be a part of it.

Yesterday I went to my barber Paul, who makes me look handsome, and he did so. Afterward I visited at the Sandy/Mark/Zane/Martha household and Zane helpfully told me that I had a comb-over. I ran to the bathroom to verify that he was wrong. I report back to you that no, I do not have a comb-over and request that if I ever do you just put me out of my misery.

I am still gainfully employed and if my company gets one of the proposals I am working on, will continue to be employed. I completed one of the proposals yesterday and another will be finished early next week, and no, I am not lying about that, in case that certain someone happens to read my blog, which turns six-years-old tomorrow.

Really, truly, I am glad this high maintenance "friendship" is ending because I'm tired of the attempts to make me feel guilty, tired of the nonsense. Tonight's email was the last straw. None of my other friends treat me like this, and now he won't get to either.

Puff and Snowball want to go camping with me in my new tent.



















Joey, Mama Cat, and Henny-Penny hate camping, though.

Doug and I drove southeast to Cobban and Ray's lovely house. I admired their koi, swimming lazily in a cattle tank.
























Koi.

We lounged in the pool and I had to take a disco nap.



















Pool boys.

Doug was very handy at identifying insects.

























Mesquite beetle.

In Bisbee we attended someone's 50th birthday party and I watched Cobban sing at karoake. On the way back to Tucson, we stopped at the gravesite of a science fiction authoress at St. David.

Two pits and a guy. So last night I took Forrest out to dinner because he has done my yard twice. We went to Guilin's and I had a green bean dish that was delicious. I also liked the fried yam and eggplant appetizer.



















Forrest reads the menu.

Afterwards we did a tour of Tucson, visiting Summit Hut, the mega Food City on 6th Avenue (they have an awesome produce section), and Dairy Queen.























Forrest examines the produce.

We sat on my couch and watched The Island and I went to bed at 10:30, well past my normal bedtime (8:30-ish). As a result, I got to work at the sewer plant a half hour late.

I asked Alan what he wanted dug and he pointed to a bell-shaped pit in an old backhoe trench. So I dug the portion in the trench, and then he said, "Why don't you dig the rest of it?" So I did.
























Bell-shaped pit.

As is typical, it had a narrow opening at the top and widened dramatically below ground. The base was slightly burnt, probably to make the pit more waterproof so they could store maize in it for their next year's crop or for next month's supper.

Sometimes you find interesting artifacts in these pits. I have a reputation for finding things. I pick the biggest pits to dig, because they contain more dirt and therefore have a greater chance of finding artifacts. This small pit contained something special- a fired clay pipe.



















Fired clay pipe, circa 3,000-3,200 years old.

This is the first known fired clay pipe from this time period in Arizona. Archaeologists have found stone pipes with bone tube mouthpieces before, but never a fired clay one (the site was occupied before pottery was invented).

As I was showing the pipe to people, someone came up and pushed the dirt around in my screen and found a spear point.



















Empire style spear point.

The second pit I dug, right next to the bell pit, contained lots of animal bones and bits of flaked stone, but nothing remarkable.

Tonight's remarkable event- making lemon cupcakes!

Doug is coming to Tucson and we are going down to visit with Cobban and Ray. What sort of dessert should I make to take with us? Vote in the comment section!!!

A). Strawberries and biscuits
B). Rhubarb tart
C). Lemon cake
D). Tapioca pudding

Two phone calls. The first was a woman from the Democratic National Party asking for a donation. Last year I gave a lot of money to the DNC and the Obama campaign. I told her that when Obama does something to change Don't Ask, Don't Tell or the Defense of Marriage Act, that I would give them money. This is the change he promised. Until then, not a penny from me and I am encouraging my friends from abstaining as well. I figure that when enough people do this the DNC will get the hint.

Our Dear Leaders in the Human Rights Campaign (who decided they were our Dear Leaders, I don't know) seem more interested in fancy cocktail parties and $300,000-a-year salaries than lobbying Congress to get rid of the apartheid laws. David Mixner had it right, gays and lesbians are being forced into an apartheid-like situation by laws that separate us and make us second class citizens in our own country.

The second call was a woman who asked me to stay on the line and listen to a pre-recorded statement. Some man I have never heard on blathered on about how Obama and the Democrats were killing babies by supporting reproductive rights (he used the word "murder" numerous times). When the recording ended the woman came on and I said to her, "I don't know how I got on your call list, I am pro-choice." That ended the conversation immediately.

Pat and Rick's pool was very comfortable on Sunday. The thermometer nearby read 111 degrees.



















Rich, Pat, Homer, Rick, and Forrest.

Well the maple buttercream frosting ran off the cupcakes because I put it on when it they were still warm, but they still tasted very good anyways. Of course afterwards, as I was washing dishes, I managed to break my candy thermometer. I always seem to get one use from those before I break them.

Sandy and Mark arrived to take Forrest and I to naked pool volleyball. It was nice to escape from my hot house, made hotter by using the stove.
























Homer and Jeremy.

It was something like 109 degrees here in Tucson yesterday (that's about 43 Celsius). Playing in the pool helped cool everything down. Plus, it was nice to hang out with Richard, Roger, and all of the other guys. We played a lot of volleyball and I managed to screw up only a few times.


















Forrest and Roger.

It was Mark's first time playing pool volleyball and he should have gotten the award for most valuable player.

Mark and Sandy.

All of the jumping and ball hitting tired me out, I was zonked out on my couch at 10 PM.

The menz.

Dinner at Sandy, Mark, and Zane's house last night. Bob came along with his cute dog, Nina, and brought a strawberry cake- very tasty.



















Night time in the pool.

Out at the sewer plant the dig continues. I am about ready to tell some people off- the guy who takes constant smoking breaks (why do some smokers think they are entitled to extra time goofing off?) and the guy who thinks flirting with women is in his job description.

At home Puff is mad at Snowball, who isn't afraid of Puff. As a result Puff goes and picks on Joey. I need the US State Department to mediate between these damn cats.

I'm behind on pool blogging! Sunday was spent at Darryl and Steve's, playing with their two dogs in the pool. Last night Forrest and I hung out with Sandy, Mark, and Zane at their pool.

I'm busy with work and come home exhausted. I need to take a nap this afternoon.

The mystery. Where is Henny-Penny hiding her eggs? I hear her cackling in the morning, so I know she has laid an egg somewhere, but I can't find them. The grass is busy growing, making for lots of good hiding spots.

As the monsoon takes place we get spectacular sunsets here in Tucson. Even my blurry photo shows that the colors are indeed pretty.



















Sunset.

Instead of going to the gym I went to the SMZ house where I was astounded with the diversity of new pool toys, many of which involved moving water from one spot to another. I proceeded to use one of the squirt guns on young Zane.

Afterwards we went to a Thai restaurant aptly named Saigon where I had two vegetarian spring rolls. I noted that the vegetarian section of the menu included several dishes that contained chicken broth.



















Saigon.

It is supposed to be 112 degrees in Tucson tomorrow. I am not looking forward to the steamy oven atmosphere of my house.

So it poured yesterday, a typical monsoon storm, and Forrest and I climbed out of the pool at Sandy, Mark, and Zane's house. They arrived shortly thereafter and we hung out for a while. On our way home we had to detour around areas where power poles had come down and the streets were flooded.

This morning I drove out to the dig site to find nobody there. Apparently they forgot to alert me. I walked over to where I was working and the pit I was digging was half full of water. A big mess.

So today I am sitting in the lovely air conditioning at the office. Just chatted with Brett, who asked me if I was obsessed and I told him no. He also asked about Henny-Penny, who is doing fine although I can't find where she is laying eggs (perhaps she has stopped because of the wretched heat).

Tonight's excitement will be a sink of dirty dishes and laundry. Not every moment can be spent hanging out in pools, no matter how much fun that sounds.

Best friends are the best.



















Forrest and Homer.

I know, I look like a total goof.

Forrest, John, and I spent some time last night in the pool before going to BK's.



















Forrest and Homer.

John got to hear some of the outrageous stuff I have experienced recently. The veggie taco I ate was good, the salsa spicy.



















John.

John suggests that some sensor thing is making my trusty Saturn hesitate in he hot weather. He may be involved in fixing it, since he is a mechanical genius.

Back to the dig site today. Wonder whether I will find interesting things or smell interesting smells.

We played volleyball until 11 o'clock, with a short break for supper. I did not see the fireworks this year, but did not miss them since I was having so much fun.



















The menz.

The patriotic cupcakes were very nice- Martha Stewart's yellow cake, coconut cream cheese frosting. I also made two different wraps with flour tortillas. One was a package of cream cheese, a clove of garlic, and a roasted red pepper ground together in my new food processor. The other was a can of refried beans, a sauteed ground-up onion, and two tablespoons or so of Tandoori sauce (a bit spicy, these went over very well). Smeared on the flour tortilla with some lettuce sprinkled on top for crunchiness. They went over well.

A moment of vanity- everyone was amazed at how much weight I have lost and how different I looked. Yeah me.

Happy 4th of July!

Another fun afternoon at the pool.




















Forrest swims.

Forrest and I have had a good time hanging out at the pool the last couple of afternoons.


























Forrest wears a tank top when he goes running.

After learning that I am a terrible person, I think about little Snowball and Mama Cat, rescued from the backyard, and Henny-Penny, perched on her blue towel in the laundry room, and decide that someone is over-reacting and perhaps projecting their flaws onto me.

Still, I am sitting here when I should be in bed, very angry and wondering why I put up with this crap.