A short walk of many sights

The street: Miller Valley Road near Fry's. I had a short walk before buying a few groceries. How do you like those parking area stakes, painted Indian-style with snakes. Ogg's Hogan, of course. (For Prescott visitors, a dealer in Native American rugs, arts and crafts.)

Fine winterish tree sight -- shadows on a wall. But a not-so-fine sight in the next batch of trees: the ubiquitous white plastic bag, flying as high and bright as a surrender flag. Why don't they make these bags and the fast food detritus in a tan color? Have you noticed that corrogated boxes in that kraft paper finish don't show up nearly as much by the side of the highway?
??? This is the only sign outside this business building. I guess those are hands for Papa, Mama and Baby Bear, maybe? As for the structure below, the shop specializes in all types of flooring, but always catches my eye with the painted sunflowers. Too bad about the dangling weather stripping, tho Christmas tinsel could hang from it.

This vacant lot sits next to one of the last homes on what was once a tree-lined residential street; the sign must have been weathering for a long time. I suspect owners have had drivers making turn-arounds in their lot for an equally long time.

A little further on and around the corner I spotted this sign of the times -- a reminder of America's rotten real estate market. Wonder just who these vultures are.

Next, into Fry's parking lot to find still more vanity license plates.

And into Fry's where I found still more suns such as those needed to cheer the dotter up in dark, dismal Alaska.

And, as a final note, a new role for the grocery store, being all things to all people -- just like Amazon today. I was so caught up in all the photo ops that I completely forgot the sharp cheddar cheese, despite my list.

Meet More Prescott Bloggers

We're planning another meet-up for Prescott bloggers, which prompted me to do another search of Blogger to see if I am missing anybody from the master list (see my blogroll at right.) All I can say is "Oh boy!" At this juncture, there are some 240 folks who have said they're in Prescott and they're doing a blog on The Google's monster blog home. No, I didn't search other hosts, not knowing my way around TypePad and simply being too old to unravel the spaghetti of MySpace. But I found some interesting new folk.

Little Buddy, who's into bicycling long distances (like the Skull Valley/Wilhoit/White Spar loop), blogs at The 305; this handsome tarantula is her most recent picture. Like many of the bloggers listed among the 240, she is an educator. Another interesting local educator writes TableTop Education, focusing in on those new $100-200 machines and what they can do to enhance youngsters' education here and in the 3rd World.

Michelle has a house full of looms because she loves fibers and colors; you can meet her at Weave Your Dreams. She also managed to get a bunch of hydrangeas to bloom. In Prescott. Another interesting local artist shows her work at Kathy Anne Art; her very contemporary approach combines digital imaging, unusual surfaces and fabrics.

The picture above is a site up in the juniper woodlands north of Paulden; Mountainaire Systems, a contract archeology firm, reports on its findings in a survey of the Drake/Hell Canyon area. (FYI: Our two favorite HC sites were a lush spring closer to the Verde River and a pond upstream on the west side of SR89.)

Many of the bloggers I checked out were writing very personal accounts of their lives, their families, their philosophies. However, there were a few who had recorded an evolving story and quit when it was done. For example, Garage on Granite Street, a series of posts by PrescottStyle that recorded the building of the city garage.

Not what you would expect in Prescott. A poet, Tasha, lists four blogs, one of which pairs a Brueghel painting with the matching poem by William Carlos Williams. It's another short-term blog; however, you can also visit her at Tasha's Blogging What-Not which is updated regularly. Yet another short-term read is Bob the Builder, who tells how he designed and built his local home (below.)

If you're interested in reading about more of the 240 Prescott bloggers, click on "view my complete profile" in the right hand column and then click again, this time on "Prescott". You'll find that after the first 35 or so listings, the blogs tend to be older and not updated recently (though that's not a hard and fast rule.) You'll also discover one of the dirty little secrets of those big numbers about the millions who are posting on the web -- far too many make one or two entries and then find something better to do, others choose a template and let it go without writing a word.

About the Meet-Up: 2:30 PM at The Raven over on Cortez Street in Prescott on Sunday, December 16.

Tractor Events

Despite all those new roofs and big box retailers, there is still a part of the Prescott area hanging on to its rural roots. Rather desperately, I would say. Be that as it may, the harvest end of the year is when rurality is celebrated, even by the city folk, who flock to fall events, such as the now defunct Young's Farm Pumpkin Festival and, of course, the county fair.

It's a time when farm equipment operators strut their stuff, with races and tractor pulls. I was never quite sure what this competition was at last year's Youngs Farm scene. However, it made great pictures.

These fellows are lined up for the tractor pull at this year's Yavapai County Fair. Don't know why farm equipment has to wait for late afternoon, but just look at those shadows!

As well as that yummy chili dog. Love that fair food!

Perhaps the end of the day is appropriate for a waning American lifestyle. Melancholy, those shadows, those empty spaces, those mountains.

Comment Note: Someone from the London School of Economics has just caught up with my post about Truly Nolen, the family owned & operated exterminating company which uses those cute little VWs with Mickey Mouse ears. He/she has a comment which fills in more about the Nolen family.

Synchronicity: Right after I posted about vanity license plates, an AP article on the subject appeared all over the place (be sure to scroll down!); in looking for a link, I also found Coolpl8tz, a site that collects the best.

Arizona Hot Spot

When your daughter and family move to a house situated smack dab on the Pacific Rim of Fire, you can bet you're going to be interested in volcanoes. Of course, I've been intrigued by volcanoes for many years; in fact, I put the Kamchatka Peninsula on my list of remarkable places in the world I'd like to visit but never will.

And so it was that I joined the crowd at the Sharlot Hall Museum this afternoon to hear Wendell Duffield's quite informative lecture on Northern Arizona volcanoes. More specifically, the San Francisco volcanic field surrounding Flagstaff. Full house -- people in Prescott are interested in the subject. After all, we have a couple of tired old relics in the area and lava flows here and there, even in town.

Admittedly, Yavapai County, with its odds and ends of vulcanism, isn't going to interest geologists when next door there's an incredible field of mountains and cones. Every one of those dots on the map above is a volcanic eruption of some sort; the current count is over 600, dating from 6 million years ago up to 1250 AD. And, no, the field is not dead; it is moving to the northeast at the rate of about 2 inches per year and could spring into action one of these days. It is sufficiently un-dormant that Duffield was part of a US Geological Service team who recommended it as a potential source for geothermal energy.

Flagstaff is located at the foot of San Francisco Mountain, at roughly 12,600 ft. tall the high spot in Arizona. Presumably it was a stratovolcano that blew out its side about one million years ago, a la Mt. St. Helens. Probably a good 16,000 ft. in elevation before the big event. Incidentally, Duffield pointed out that the mound in the lower right dates from only about 400,000 years ago.

Here's another feature of the field, in a Landsat image. The black cone is SP crater, with a major lava flow to the north. Don't miss all the volcanic cones at the bottom of the image.

Two types of mountain projected at the lecture. The illustrations are from a book written by the speaker.

Here is evidence to remind us of the recency of vulcanism in Arizona -- Indian corn left an imprint in a piece of lava found near Sunset Crater, our latest volcano. But even more intriguing is the pottery shard embedded in lava (below) from the most recent flow from a cone at the foot of remote Mt. Trumbull, which is located at the west end of Grand Canyon Natl. Park on the north rim. Both these relics are believed to be in the same age range, said Duffield.

Judging from the questions the audience threw at the speaker, there's really a lot of interest in local vulcanism, which doesn't make it into most discussions, such as these from the US Geological Service (here and here.) Of course I bought a copy of Duffield's book, Volcanoes in Northern Arizona. And one of these days I might pull together a post about a few of the volcanic features of our local area.

A license to display

As a rule, I consider license plate numbers to be private -- ok in the state data base and on police computer look-ups, but otherwise off limits to the casual photographer. If necessary, I smudge them out. However, when folks make a point of cute plates, they are fair game. Here, a few I've seen on local streets:

Happy to NJOY AZ, even if (below) it's a DRY HEAT.

I believe the owner of this plate uses it to promote his business. A good use if you can get it. The driver below: probably into horses big time.

This one I don't get, though I suspect that "stokage" has to do with surfing. So I included it. Besides, I certainly respect any beach.

At this point, I've switched to what you might call license plate place holders -- now that only one plate is required, there's a plate holder left over into which you can insert the message of your choice. Some are quite choice!
Betty Boop appears to be popular with drivers this year. Guys, I'd bet.

Can't figure out why anybody would put a jack rabbit on his car but, as the plate says, "here it is."

The cult of the Harley is represented...

As is the cult of the cat. Too bad the feline isn't a smiling manx.

Brinkmeyer House opened for boutique

The big Victorian at the corner of Park and Gurley was open to the public for the first time since its 100th birthday nearly 10 years ago. The occasion: a bazaar to benefit the historic Citizens Cemetery. A lot of the visitors were just like me -- curious to visit the inside of a splendid old house the outside of which I see almost daily!

Greeters and some of the assistants were costumed appropriately for the event which continues tomorrow (go if you get a chance!)

And there were goodies galore! In fact, it was hard to admire the house itself there were so many items for sale, over 1000 of them made by the hostess, Cookie Brinkmeyer. The house was built by Henry Brinkmeyer, a prominent local businessman who arrived in 1884 from Germany, and has remained in the family ever since.

Gift items ranged from Victorian pillows...

...to quilts in various sizes and colors...

...to Christmas tree ornaments...

...and a grand cat, part of the Grunge Goddess Primitives collection on sale. I lusted for this animal, but it was a hair pricey so I settled for a much smaller pair of barn cats in the same series.

Now for a look at some of the historic house. Above, the mantlepiece and, below, the fireplace.

A china cabinet in the breakfast room...

...a truly antique phone...

...a lovely art deco light for the staircase...

...an old piano with family pictures...

...lovely old oak woodwork throughout the interior...

...pretty diagonally mullioned windows on the porch...

...and upstairs as well. What a fun way to spend a cool but sunny November afternoon.

Link Notes: The Courier has an extensive story plus a picture gallery of the Brinkmeyer House; go take a look, especially at the bedroom pictures with their old beds. Another link of interest: I began getting visitors who were sent my way by a roving RV blogger -- one of those adventurous retirees who has chucked roots for the life of a modern vagabond. The RV Boondocker-Explorer writes cool short essays, visits interesting out-of-the-way places and takes pictures while he's about it.