If pigs could fly...

So I was in my office this afternoon, minding my own business and I heard noises up on the roof. Aha, sez I to myself, I'm going to catch that so-and-so this time. With camera, I sneak up the hill and look across the roof. There's the perp -- one of the neighborhood javelina, looking straight at me, advancing toward me. Click. And while the picture is recording, s-l-o-w-l-y, the beast angles off the roof and heads uphill to safer turf. As a result, I got just one (1) picture and I'm happy with it. In case you're wondering about this animal (and many others) being on my roof, remember that my house is built into a hillside.

Hats 'n heels

On a wet, chill, snowy, drizzly day, my thoughts naturally turn to warm things. Like last summer when I had some great shoots with the Niece from Memphis and her daughter. We had a special time at the thrift shops, reafirming the old adage that clothes make the man -- or teen-ager, in this case.
It all started with those racks and racks of yesterday's fancier shoes.

But it was the platform sandals that captured the imagination of teen-ager.

Each pair a trifle higher, culminating in a real retro Tall Gal fashionista.

Teen-ager isn't the only one to play with shoes. Even little ones are fascinated with heels...

...and hats.

Once teen-ager had explored the potential of platform shoes, she also tried on one hat persona...

...and another. Don't they fit well?

Amazing what a hat will do and how it can change the person sitting underneath it -- I stole this pic from dotter's blog because it is one with the others. As I look at it, I think of Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel, though she wore a top hat.

Prescott Arts Beat: I wondered why nothing new was showing up at my link to these periodic interviews with local A&E folk. Turns out that Andrew has moved to a new URL, where there are all sorts of new goodies. BTW, he's also up and running with his low-power radio station. He reports:

"This evening we did a test broadcast of music and radio theatre on our frequency, AM 1670. The signal was strong and clean from Goldwater Lake to Godwin Street. Once the signal hit the power lines of downtown Prescott, there was interference - as we had experienced before. Driving around, there were little pockets of clean reception sprinkled around town - appearing like magic on my truck's radio as I drove through rainy neighborhood streets. I laughed outloud - when driving past local blogger Granny J's house, her voice broke though a patch of static - clear as a bell.

"With a little more tweaking, and a new antenna design Mark is cooking up for us, I anticipate getting signals from our first antenna pushed out past Prescott College in the next 30 days."

The misadventures of Lowe's

On the left, the modest manufactured homes of retirees in Prescott Canyon Estates. To the right, the denuded hillsides that surround the new Lowe's. Not visible from SR69: the built-up embankment between the big box's parking lot and the lower reaches of the subdivision.

That's where a wall lining the embankment gave way in three different locations, damaging one home. As you can imagine, a major civic hoo-rah has ensued. Inasmuch as we are enjoying another major Pacific storm, I would expect a few more tiles to drop in the next couple of days. But then the experts are presumably working to solve this problem. What about those ugly scars?

There's Lowe's, at the left. I wonder how long it will take for moisture to work other wonders on these barren hillsides. Our dry countryside is not desert -- but local plants are are a slow growing lot and the scattered junipers that the hired landscapers have planted look mighty sparse and lonely up there.

Yet the Lowe's folk could score a cheap public relations coup simply by spending a several thou on California poppy seed and covering those hillsides with blossoms this spring.

A few intense patches of bear grass here and there, interspersed with major plantings of cliff rose, sun flower and Apache plume would help, as would greater generosity in the number of junipers. Just contrast the landscape junipers with those in the untouched hillside below. Oh -- I guess some scrubby little turbinela oaks would fit in this as well.

But do pass the word to the Lowe's landscapers: plenty of California poppy seeds this year. It would cheer everybody up remarkably.

Commentary on Comments: It's always great when a post inspires readers to drop by with their comments. Especially when the subject is highly local -- and the commentators are old-timers who contribute new insights, as is happening to the notes I made about the "Empties on Miller Valley". Scroll down to read the latest! And, BTW, if you've never made a comment, don't be shy -- I'd love to hear from readers in Aliso Viejo and Tampa and Bradner and Las Vegas and Vienna, as well as anyone or everyone else!

Gifts of winter

Not that winter is my favorite season, mind you. Oh, no -- I'm still in the process of shaking down a new heating system that's challenged when the early early morning temps drop down to the mid and lower 20s, as is predicted for Sunday and beyond.

Nonetheless, winter brings its surprises. such as this full grown critter which dropped onto the window sill from one of the hanging basket plants in my office the other day. I don't know his family, genus, whatever, but he stood still for a rather neat portrait and then disappeared, never to be seen again.

Today, the remains of those big Pacific Coast storms started rolling in, wetting everything from ivy leaves to stones with a high gloss.

Even a pine needle on cement created its own particular glow.

And, as every rockhound knows, the secret to beautiful stones is a surface coating of water. These rocks are all part of my big retaining wall. They're never quite as beautiful as when the rain heightens their color.

BTW, I'm dedicating the pictures of these stones to k, who has to travel miles and miles to gather stones for her remarkable southern Florida garden.

Engine appreciation

Many years ago, when our world was young, my late husband owned a small hand generator. Work the crank and you produced a smidgen of electricity; work it very hard and you could light a low wattage bulb. It proved a very interesting object lesson for verbal-type folk with a mouthful of back to the land talk. Most had absolutely no knowledge of how hard people had to work in the G.O.D. (Good Old Days.)

Thus I can only applaud modern-day collectors of old engines and other "antiques of the industrial revolution," as one afficienado put it. Another reminded readers that "by the turn of the 20th century, nearly every city big enough to have an iron foundry and machining facilities had someone building engines. Hundreds, if not thousands, of engine manufacturers sprang up all over the civilized world. These engines were a boon to farmers and industrialists alike. The farmer with the purchase of just one small engine could now run his cream separator, wood saw, butter churn, corn sheller, feed grinder, gristmill and pump water. Everything from small shops to factories could be run on engines now." Today, simple wall outlets give the average householder more power than those farmers or industrialists could have dreamed of.

Reason enough that more moderns should attend a show put on by old engine collectors; they might up their appreciation and understanding. Even when the machine in question (above) is a gag incorporating as many gears as possible.

Example: a cement mixer from an earlier day. On display during the antique and classic auto show last summer out at Watson Lake Park.

This 1919 Economy engine was powering a battery charger...

...while the engine above operated a can crusher...

...and the unit above powered a light bulb.

Yet another old machine, lovingly de-rusted and painted to look like new.

Here a poster at the late lamented Young's Farm reminding visitors of the works of John Deere.

Out at the Skull Valley Historical Society Museum, I saw this totally unrestored collection of parts and didn't read the sign while I was there, so no data on whether it came from the railroad, the mines or a ranch.

Another bit of machine beef -- the antique tow truck you might see around town, especially at car shows. This vehicle can still earn its living, according to the owner. If old engines interest you, there's always the Sharlot Hall Museum, with a collection of old mining machinery on display up in the main parking lot. They are powered up once a year during the Territorial Days celebration.

Blog Roaming: I had heard earlier in the day that a big mountain lion had been hit on the highway up near Ashfork. Now I've seen the pictures -- over at Prescott Style, who also has some neat footage of Grapevine Springs, presumably coming off Big Bug Mesa.

New & improved

Evolution: from old-fashioned gum ball machine to eye candy, not to mention a fast revenue- generating cover for a mall spot that's in need of a open store front. Just one of the sights I saw on a recent visit to the Gateway Mall.

It's really fascinating what one can buy from a retailer these days -- when I was young I would absolutely have gone bananas in a modern office products store; there wasn't any such at the time. Similarly, the idea that you can stop at a mall kiosk to whip up a custom decal or bumper sticker still amazes me.

Perhaps these tigers are at a discount because of recent bad news from the San Francisco zoo; more likely, Walgreen's is merely trying to move leftover Christmas merchandise off its shelves.

But if I were looking for a trend declaration, this is it. I saw these land-line phones for a mere $2.50 the same week that both the daily newspapers I read featured a wire service story about cell phone families outnumbering land-line homes for the first time. All I could say about the cheap, cheap phones is, "Qwest must be subsidizing this product!"

Miller Valley Empties

So just what is the problem with Miller Valley Road? Is it a location! location! location! issue? All I am aware of is that there are a surprising number of empty business buildings between Gurley and Iron Springs Road. Likely all that commercial construction on SR 69 has simply swamped the region with an oversupply of retail, restaurant and other business locations. (There are even empties in the Prescott Gateway Mall.)

The one good piece of news for the Miller Valley area -- a new Chinese buffet will occupy the building (above) almost completely vacated by The Oak Tree, which has closed. Welcome news, if the food is as good as the buffet near Costco that shut its doors. Of course, this building was built as a restaurant originally. But the long-time El Chaparral Mexican food operation (below) is still sporting a "for sale" sign. It's been at least a year.

No activity at the empty gas station next to the True Value...

...and the ID's been stripped from the sign next door -- a sign that declared the pretty little building below to be a branch of the Stockman's Bank, swallowed up back a while in yet another mini-merger. I had always believed the Stockman's Bank, which survived the Depression, to be a keeper; guess I was wrong!

Saddest of all to me is that the old stone building on the east side of the street has been up for rent for such a long time. Somebody went to a lot of trouble to save the historic structure but they haven't managed to get a taker. I've always loved the way it is nestled into the granites, front and back (below.)

The face is familiar

Yes, I realize I am repeating pictures. Most, at least. However, it's for a reason. It's because each reminds me of why Cubism. And because they all remind me of one another.

The top pair are obviously done by a child, in this case my granddotter. Both remind me of the next picture.

This creature -- my wonderful new Eunice the Cat -- was made as a deliberate "primitive" by the Grunge Goddess, a local lady who sells via eBay. So perhaps we can say that cubism is, in part, deliberately child-like.

But then we find this face right out there on a Park Avenue aspen tree trunk for all to see. So isn't it readily apparent that the cubists are really just artists, imitating Nature after all.

The moose? Well, I just included him 1) to honor the kids up in Alaska and 2) because it isn't often you meet up with a plush wall critter who sings when activated by, get this, his very own remote!

Assorted Notes: Lori of Chatoyance has challenged me -- in lieu of a meme tag -- to install a charitable widget to help buy books for a school in Africa. Take a look over at her blog; I'm not sure I'm up to doing the installation. However, I was led by the widget to a most interesting approach to small charitable projects using the Internet, pioneered by FirstGiving. The hows are explained at their site and their blog. In other news, my post about the dead cottonwoods was mentioned in the January Festival of the Trees, hosted this month by Hoarded Ordinaries, which is a blog worth a visit on a regular basis in any event. And, in a final note, remember that elephant that has been sitting in the middle of all the negotiations, planning sessions and plain talk-talk about tapping the Big Chino basin for water? Looks like that elephant is beginning to stir. Big Time. Funny -- when we first moved to the Prescott area, the SRP was never mentioned in the Courier -- almost as if it didn't exist (and own senior water rights to the Verde...)