Boop-oop-a-doo???

'S funny -- though I remember Betty Boop from my childhood, I never considered her a Big Deal. In fact, I never thought too much about her cartoons. And so here I am, at 80+, seeing all these Betty Boop items around town. Geezers remembering their childhoods, maybe? But not if they're like me. What can I do but turn to The Google to find out, maybe.

What I discover, primarily, are sites selling 1300+ Betty Boop items. (Here, here and here). Plus the cartoons. Wikipedia, of course, has an extensive article, though I didn't really get an answer to: Why Betty Boop in the 2000s? However, it did note that marketers rediscovered Betty Boop in the 1980s, and "Betty Boop" merchandise has far outdistanced her exposure in films, with many not aware of her as a cinematic creation. Much of this current merchandise features the character in her popular, sexier form, and has become popular worldwide once again.

Aha -- so that's what it was; when I was a little girl, Betty Boop was a sex symbol, a cartoon for the grown-ups, not really for the kids. And that appears to be her current appeal, as well, tho my memory puts her in the same class as the dumb blonde with a cutsie, high-pitched voice. However, I still marvel at how such an iconic figure gets dredged up from the past to take on a new life. I guess all I can do is buy one of these bright R.E.D. fleece blankets and curl up with a ghost of yesterday.

Local Linkage: The folks at Love Field, our local airport, have instituted a blog, Prescott Aerospan, which, in turn, is promising a series of articles about Prescott area aviation history. Another local blogger, Jenny Williams, who writes as Geek Dad at Wired magazine, has posted a 3-part interview with local SF author Allen Dean Foster.

A pair of big boring bits

Last night's post reminded me that I did have, somewhere in my big iPhoto folder, good pictures, in focus pictures of those great big bits used to make great big holes in the ground. The pix date from a couple of years ago, about the time all that work was going on out Iron Springs Road. As I recall, the best of the shots were made by the Sson.

I'm sure that in the great scheme of things, these drill bits are ho hum -- no oil wells or sample cores from Antarctic ice, for instance. But I still find them impressive.

Caged borer

By this time, everybody should know the drill: whatever is first in line in front of the lens is where the camera will focus. Which results in pictures of twigs instead of birds in trees. Smushed bugs on the windshield instead of purple mountain majesties. And a chain link fence instead of earth moving equipment with a giant borer attachment. Nonetheless, the combination makes for an interesting picture as a placeholder while I go prep the house for the Merry Maids, arriving first thing in the morning. Getting ready for the much-anticipated Christmas invasion.

More storm aftermath

A crane looked out over Park Avenue this afternoon. A downed tree, my neighbor told me, urging friend Patty and me to cut the Scrabble game short and hie out to the car to go take a look. Which we did. The view from the alley showed 1) a lop-sided Arizona cypress that appeared to have lost most of its limbs on the left side and 2) another cypress whose upper trunk may have been broken off.

Here's the scene on the Park Avenue side of the historic mansion. As best we could tell, a huge trunk was squashing a car that's hiding behind the crane. If you peer past the crane (below), you might get a better view of the tree that lost the top of its trunk -- a side show to the main action.

This is the downed tree trunk -- and, below, the remaining stump.

Piles of slash all over the place -- and firewood for the taking (below). When did the tree topple? No idea, but I'm sure that the high winds earlier this week played a major role.

Those winds did a job on a shed at our cottage down in Wilhoit, as well. The roof blew into the lot next door, the former walls were all over the place...

And file cabinets that haven't been opened since the LH and I moved to Arizona were left standing, lonely, in the cold. Thanks to Chris for the photos.

Early Prescott

This curious representation of "historic" Prescott hangs near the entrance desk at the Sharlot Hall Museum and is called "Prescott -- 1864-1924". The title caught me up short, but then I spent a little time studying details to discover the painting is chockablock full of anachronisms.

For example, there is a handful of motor cars in the midst of horseback riders and pack mules. There is also a streetcar, marking this street (below) as Gurley.

The old Head Hotel shows up moved to the NE corner of Gurley and Cortez Streets.

Frontier Days plays out on Cortez Street, with the stand on the Courthouse Plaza. Whiskey Row is on the opposite side of the original Courthouse (below).

Yes, there was a railroad train evident at the north end of town, but the hydraulic gold mining (below) actually happened in Lynx Creek, quite a few miles distant from the Courthouse.

Ah, if only I had anticipated how that one picture (top) was to be used! I would have made a number of closer shots to maintain decent detail.

Winter Wonderland: The dotter was out with her new camera and has just posted the results -- beautiful pictures of hoar frost build up by Alaskan fog on the trees. Gorgeous.

Critter exotica

Lest you believe that Prescott's critter exotica is limited to javelina and ring-tailed cats, I've collected here other beasties I've seen while wandering our town. 'Frinstance, that's one fine toucan spotted at the Grayleaf Galleries last winter.

The gilt-encrusted rhino was for sale at the gift shop in the Prescott Resort, which had a rather grand collection of frogs, painted ponies and other goodies.

The camel (above) and the elephants (below) were photographed in one of our many collectible shops.

On the other hand, the life-size giraffes made their home down in Cordes Lakes. BTW, does anyone know what has happened to the outfit that was selling the giant made-in-Mexico giraffes and lions and saurians; I'm told that they have left their yard across I-17 from Anthem.

In my book, the critter above must certainly be a firebird, don't you think? It, too, resided at the Grayleaf.

As for the zebra, it happened soon after I handed the younger granddotter an empty toilet paper roll one day this past summer.

Linkage: If you don't read the comments, you may have missed the wonderful clock that Avus linked to. For a fun trip, you might follow the pair of Arkansas lads who rode west on their bikes; in the process they discovered the White Spar. Among new local bloggers is a woman with two Maine coon cats. And yet another article about Arcosanti, the Utopia that wasn't.

Storm finishes that broken oak

It was very recently I wrote of the broken tree down the street, noting that despite the crack spiraling up the trunk, there was still a substantial canopy (below) and that I wouldn't be surprised to see the same tree hanging in there 10 years from now. That's the way of many trees with a strong life force, especially tough little oaks.

Oh, how wrong I was! Our Monday night storm, which combined snow, hurricane force wind gusts, plus thunder and lightning was too much for big robust Ponderosa pines, that crashed into streets, power lines and porches around town. Why should we expect this crippled Emory oak to survive such an onslaught. It didn't, as the pictures taken by my neighbor make quite clear. It was simply too much of a storm.

Up the hill, I worried the wind might blow in my big picture windows; however, the only suffering at Chez GrannyJ (aside from cold feet) was the electric outage that lasted much of the night. Now another two El Nino storms are headed this way -- while my bro, in Perth on the west coast of Oz, reports that he's suffering from the back side of the same El Nino, which means drought.

Our share of the Big Storm

Yes, the big coast-to-coast storm earlier this week did pass over Prescott, bringing us our first moisture in over a month. As such, it was welcome. Not so the high winds. But the winds are another story. Later. Tonight, the subject is snow.

Usually the result of a snow storm is a load of of the white stuff on our pines and naked deciduous trees. At first, on Monday afternoon, the snow began to build up on the Ponderosa (above) and the Scotch pine (below). By the next morning, most had been blown off, which is too bad. As long as we're going to have a snow storm, that Christmas card look is one of the big payoffs. However, the start was pretty.

Though we had about six inches total, it didn't pile up very high on the juniper or tree branches.

My strawberry pot will be well watered; the snow is melting very gradually. Meaning that it is cold. As in BRRR!

Our street, being unpaved never sees the snow plow. That leaves a neat canvas for interesting tire patterns.

The embankment collects various critter tracks, primarily dogs and the occasional cat, whereas the road (below) collects people prints (left) together with dog meanderings (right).

Here's my neighbor with Toby, who's straining at his leash to catch the frisbee.

When I finally ventured out into greater Prescott, the major streets were reasonably well plowed, though there was still a covering of snow. That was on Wednesday. Today, Thursday, my street is still snow covered -- and we're expecting another storm this weekend. And another next week. All thanks to that El Nino dominating the Pacific this season.

All About the Storm: The Prescott Pines Camp suffered major damage from the winds, including a Ponderosa that crashed into its dining hall. For a round-up of news about the storm, check out the Courier story; I don't know if electric service has been restored in all the outlying areas or not. NASA's Earth Observatory has a great big picture of the Big Storm here.

Accidental skull?

Oh, the strange things one sees when out walking around Prescott. What could it be? Any of you who recall seeing shapes in the clouds as a child ought to be able to come up with possibilities.

Misc. Links: In case you haven't seen the mysterious spiral of lights in the Norwegian sky, Space Weather has a still image; the Berman post includes videos that show how the lights developed, giving a very different picture of what happened; the final two of the three videos are best. In a less serious moment, you might take a look at a huge domino run over at YouTube.