Arizona Autumn

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

It is slowly but surely getting cooler in the Valley of Hell - and I love it! Now instead of 115 degrees every day, the high is usually closer to ninety-five. I heard one forecaster say yesterday that the triple digits may be gone for the rest of the year.

There is, of course, a down side to the improving temperatures. The blue-haired snowbirds will soon be flocking here from the colder climes, driving up the price of liquor and clogging up the freeways with their big-assed cars and RV's. A few months from now the Valley will start to get insanely hot again and the old farts will head home. And so it goes...

I have been outside today landscaping with cactus. It feels good to get my hands in the dirt, sort of reminds me of being back in the Ozarks at Rock's Roost. Well, not much! The people who lived here before me preferred bushes to cactus, and I have spent much of the summer trimming and hacking my way thought the landscape. Now I am beginning to pull up their confounded bushes and replace them with cactus - which are much easier to care for.

I have also been pushing paths through the house today to get it ready for my sons and oldest grandson when they visit later in the week. I'm glad that summer is fading. That should make their trip more bearable - for them. It will be a blast for me! We are talking about going to Sedona and the Grand Canyon while they are here.

Tasting the Wines in Sedona

by Pa Rock
Happy Tourist

It is so nice to get out of the Valley of Hell for a day trip, especially when I don't have to drive. Today I went to Sedona in a small bus with several other folks from Luke Air Force Base, ostensibly for wine tasting, but we also managed to do some other touristy stuff along the way.

Our first stop was at the beautiful Chapel of the Holy Cross, a Catholic church that was constructed in a crevice high up in Sedona's red rocks. We had to park the bus at the foot of a steep hill. All of my time at the gym has paid off because I was able to make the climb with relative ease while some of my younger companions were huffing and puffing their way to the top. The Chapel had a breath-taking view, and, of course, the obligatory gift shop.

The second stop was a shopping village called Talapaque. It was primarily over-priced galleries of art and women's clothing and jewelry, nothing to hold my interest, so I dashed across a busy highway to visit an emporium for psychics and a UFO store. Those were much more interesting!

We had lunch in the garden of a very nice restaurant called The Barking Frog. The food was delicious. I had a fancy grilled cheese with portabella mushroom, and everyone in the group sampled the cactus fries which are strips of deep fried prickly pear cactus. It was so nice to be able to sit outside on a pleasant August day and eat lunch. That's not something that a person wants to do down in the Valley!

We managed to hit three separate wineries after lunch as well as a trip to Red Rock State Park. Our guide told us that Red Rock State Park is the second most photographed site in Arizona, exceeded only by the Grand Canyon. (The Obama's were at the Grand Canyon today - bet that was a zoo!)

For those who have not been there - Sedona is a must see when traveling in the American West. Postcard views everywhere, lots of shops and tourist stuff, jeep tours out into the mountains, good food, swimming, hiking, fishing - it has nothing in common with the hellhole that is Phoenix in August!

A Disney Adventure!

by Pa Rock
World Traveler

I'm off on another trip tomorrow, a fun adventure to Disney World in Florida followed by a cruise to the Bahamas on one of Disney's big boats (probably the S.S. Goofy!). My oldest son, Nick, and his only son, Boone, will be waiting for me at the Port Orleans Resort at Disney World.

This will be my third summer of going somewhere with Boone. Two years ago he and Nick and I rode Amtrak from Topeka to Flagstaff and then drove south in a rented car to Phoenix where we met his new cousin, Sebastian. We also took in Sedona and the Grand Canyon on that trip. Last summer he and his Dad flew to Phoenix and we drove to San Diego where Boone was able to see the ocean for the first time. You only get to see the ocean for the first time once, and Pa Rock was thrilled to be there when his oldest grandson had that experience!

Boone is ten-years-old now and should really enjoy his time in the theme park and at sea. (I once told a friend that a Disney Cruise was my definition of hell, but he assured me that the kids are kept very busy and the old fogies are free to enjoy more leisurely pursuits.) I'm sure that we will all have a blast!

And,yes, I'm going to be on the lookout for pirates. It would be like just like that devious (yet charmingly flamboyant) Captain Jack Sparrow to try something on the high seas!

More to follow...

The Stimulatin' Blues

by Pa Rock
Political Commentator

If the hypocrisy generated by Republicans and their media mouthpieces was pure manure, it could fill the Grand Canyon and create a victory garden that would feed America! (Alright, so it is manure, but like most things produced by the GOP, it is lacking in quality.)

Today a handful of Republican Governors from the American South were gnashing their teeth and saying that maybe they wouldn't accept any of that stimulus money. Yeah, wanna bet? Try telling that one to the voters back home who are without jobs and mired in debt. Big talk emanating from big mouths - but when the cash starts rolling, they will be the first hogs at the trough!

Today the big conservative whine revolved around the unfairness the "bailout" of people having trouble with their mortgages. First of all, the "bailout" doesn't pay the mortgage, it just gives people in trouble an opportunity to take care of their debt rather than walk out on their obligation and let the banks handle the loss. Poll those same Republican noisemakers and you will learn that damn few want the banks to suffer. Second, Obama is right. The people who aren't in mortgage trouble don't really want a bunch of foreclosures in their neighborhoods. Boarded up houses with ragged lawns hurt the home values of all of the neighbors.

But my favorite hypocrite isn't a governor or a radio maggot. My favorite hypocrite is Senator Kit Bond of Missouri. Yesterday he stayed busy travelling around Missouri proudly pointing out how its citizens would benefit from certain parts of the stimulus package - never mind that he had voted against that same package when it passed in the Senate. Keith Olbermann wisely made Bond his "Worst Person in the World" on Countdown yesterday for his opportunistic buffoonery.

Rush Limbaugh put the Republican strategy into words when he said publicly that he wanted to see Obama fail. Fair enough - it's all politics. The problem is that if Obama fails, we all fail - even drug-addled radio clowns. The economy is a lemon, a big sour lemon. Do we want to sit around sucking on it and feeling sorry for ourselves, or do we want to roll up our sleeves and at least try to make lemonade? The GOP likes to squint and pucker and tell us how awful anything is that is done for the public good, but the rest of us don't have to buy into their miserable view of life.

And I, for one, choose not to!

Gobama!

An Update on Boone

by Pa Rock

Last night I received photos from my grandson, Boone Macy of West Plains, MO. They were of him and his mother at a pumpkin farm, and a couple of pictures of Boone with his new French bulldog, Sly. Boone's mother raises French bulldogs and ships them all over the United States.

Today I talked to Boone over the telephone for awhile. He just finished the first quarter of 4th grade and made all A's on his report card. Way to go, Boone! When I asked him what he has been reading, he said that yesterday he completed A Wrinkle in Time. I love that book, but I was at least in junior high school when I read it, and probably high school! I suspect that Boone's love of reading is one reason that he does so well at the spelling bee each year.

Boone and his Dad and I went to the Grand Canyon in the summer of 2007 and had a good time. This past summer we all went to San Diego where we got to play in the ocean and go to the zoo. I hope that we are able to do something fun next summer. I always enjoy seeing the world through the eyes of my grandson!

2007 Personal Highlights

The year 2007 will pass into the history books later tonight, an event that causes me to reminisce about the year that was. Overall, it was a good twelve months.

In January I joined the Hopkinsville, KY, YMCA, and was faithful to a fitness program there (primarily walking, stationary bicycle, and weights) until I moved West in late September.

I sailed the Caribbean in February with the National Association of Social Workers and MS Magazine. On that voyage I met several prominent feminists including Tyne Daly and Eleanor Smeal, attended a variety of workshops that were focused on feminist issues, and got a good look at Belize, Guatemala, and southern Mexico.

I celebrated my 59th birthday in March and moved to within one year of receiving my first retirement check.

My newest grandson, Sebastian Phoenix Files was born on July 5th. Later that month my son Nick and my other grandson, Boone, joined me in a train trip out West to meet little Sebastian. One highlight of that trip (other than Sebastian!) was a visit to the Grand Canyon.

In September I accepted a job at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix. It was significant for two reasons: it located me in the same city as Molly, Scott, and Sebastian, and it brought me officially into the federal employment system. Now I am getting to see my grandson on a regular basis, and I am completing requirements for another retirement.

My nephew, Justin Smith, was married in Fayetteville, AR, in September. I flew to Missouri from Kentucky to take my Dad to the wedding. It was really great getting to see all of my sister’s kids at that happy event.

Nick helped move me to Phoenix at the end of September. I doubt that I could have gotten here without him.

I began work at Luke on October 1st. My new co-workers proved to be just as great as those at my last two bases, as well as the good people that I worked with at the Children’s Division in Missouri.

I began blogging in November and am really enjoying the challenge of coming up with interesting things to write about. This project also gives me a place to organize things that I have written over the years, and to present snippets of my personal history. It is a very introspective enterprise.

I made a trip home for the holidays in December and was able to spend a brief amount of time with all of my children and grandchildren. I also learned while there that Tim, my youngest, will be getting married to his girlfriend, Erin, in the near future. That was very good news indeed!

I ended this year by joining a local health club, Lifetime Fitness. After a good initial workout yesterday, I am almost too sore to move today. Old age is such a blessing!

My best to you in 2008!

Pa Rock