Lack Of Caffeine

Tucson Weather Today

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I got a late start today. Well, no... I started to write this entry at 5:30 this morning, Tucson Time, which is of course 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time. But for some reason I could not put two words together in my mind, let alone type them into the file. So I downloaded and read my overnight email, checked celebrity birthdays, hunted up a quotation, and shut the computer down.

No coffee. That's three days of no caffeine. That might be one of the reasons for my current feelings of lethargy, both mental and physical.

So, now at 4:00 P.M. I am finally getting around to uploading this to blogger.

Oh . . . I did manage to get out for my two-mile walk today.

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My Word For Today

fictitious
Adjective
Not real or true, being imaginary or having been fabricated.
Of, relating to, or denoting the imaginary characters and events found in fiction.

Although I have long been well aware of the meaning of this word, I decided to post it anyway.

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BORN ON THIS DAY

L. Ron Hubbard

Science Fiction Writer

Jokester and Charlatan

Born March 13, 1911

Died January 24, 1986

According to Wikipedia: Science Fiction writer L. Sprague de Camp wrote to Isaac Asimov on August 27, 1946, to tell him: "The more complete story of Hubbard is that he is now in Florida living on his yacht with a man-eating tigress named Betty-alias-Sarah, another of the same kind... He will probably soon thereafter arrive in these parts with Betty-Sarah, broke, working the poor-wounded-veteran racket for all its worth, and looking for another easy mark. Don't say you haven't been warned. Bob [Robert Heinlein] thinks Ron went to pieces morally as a result of the war. I think that's fertilizer, that he always was that way, but when he wanted to conciliate or get something from somebody he could put on a good charm act. What the war did was to wear him down to where he no longer bothers with the act."

Which means that Hubbard was recognized from the beginning as a man to be avoided and his ideas to be ignored.

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That's all I have for now. Hopefully tomorrow I will have more to offer.

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"I find that writing is a constant battle with exactly the same problems you've always had."
--Douglas Adams

An Extra Long Walk

Tucson Weather Today

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The weather was so marvelous this morning that I extended my daily walk for an extra half-hour and snapped a few photos along the way.

Here is the first one...

Looking North on Camino Seco at Speedway Boulevard

Tucson, Arizona

(Click each photo for larger view)

Santa Catalina Mountain Scene

Another Santa Catalina Mountain Scene

There are several more but that's enough for now.

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PZ Myers has asked his readers to write an essay titled Why I Am An Atheist which he will include in his blog. Well, since I am not an atheist, I cannot truthfully write such an essay because I am neither an atheist nor a theist... I am merely an evolved primate who does not know whether God, a god, or even a godlike creature exists... or not.

But I should be able to write an essay titled Why I Am Not An Atheist.

Perhaps I will do so.

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Middle Of The Week

It rained here in East Tucson Monday afternoon and again yesterday afternoon, then last night it really stormed, dropping lots of water and some loudly clattering hail onto the roof. And the monsoon season is supposed to be over. Phoenix was hit by enough rain last night to cause a great deal of highway flooding. Today there are tornado warnings for the area just west of Flagstaff.

What's the world coming to, anyway?

Mike and JoAnn are supposed to be on their way home from London, probably flying over the Atlantic Ocean at this very moment, as I am typing this, at 7 A.M.

And . . .

The temperature here at this time of morning is a pleasant 67 degrees (F.) and the sun is shining onto the the Santa Catalina mountain peaks. According to the TV weather kitten, it's supposed to get up into the 80s later this afternoon, with only a thirty percent chance of rain.

It's about time for my morning walk.

More later . . .

Does The Why Really Matter?

Internet service in this area went down last night just before eight o'clock and is still down at this time (6:30) this morning. So I don't know if I will be able to post this entry or not as soon as I finish writing it. If not, my hordes of disappointed readers will just have to grin and bear it.

This thing of not having a Internet connection doesn't stop me from composing this blog entry, of course. I write, edit, and finalize each day's entry using Notepad, then when I feel it's ready. I copy it and paste it into the new page at blogspot.

No problem, unless the outage continues for an unreasonable length of time.

. . .

Why I blog is the title of a piece I read last night in The Atlantic, and it is an interesting answer to the question I am often asked, "Why do you blog?"

I have given my reasons for blogging more than once and will probably do so again, perhaps each time I am again asked. But you can click the above link if your are at all interested in reading why Andrew Sullivan (The Daily Dish) blogs.

. . .

Photo of a plant that lives on a shelf above the TV

The red (crimson? scarlet?) flowers have just recently sprung forth from the (purple?) flutes (or whatever they're called) and I thought a picture of them might brighten up this page.

Here is a close-up of the tiny flowers

. . .

I read at The Writer's Almanac that yesterday was the birthday of Jerry Garcia guitarist for the Grateful Dead.

Jerry Garcia

Although I was never one of those radical 'Dead Heads' I was (and still am) an enthusiastic fan of the ice cream named after the late Jerry Garcia... namely Ben & Jerry's popular flavor, Cherry Garcia.

"Yum!"

. . .

Yesterday I complained about a tiny grammar error at Science-Based Medicine and after I thought about it I wished that I had not done so. It was merely an innocent typo in which the word 'an' was used when it should have been 'a' -- shame on me. But I revisited the site later and noticed that the mistake has now been corrected.

Someone must have read my blog and reported the mistake.

(Yeah... right!)

. . .

I did not go out for my daily 3.4 mile walk yesterday but I certainly intend to go this morning. Hope I can do so before the daily monsoon rain makes an appearance. The sun is brightly shining out over the mountains at this moment, so it appears that my prospects are good.


My Internet connection is working again now. So I will post this immediately in case it fails again, and go out for that walk.

A Pleasant Evening Dog-Walk

While out for our walk with Eva yesterday evening JoAnn and I came upon a good-natured fellow leading a white horse


and we were told that the horse's name is Nickolai (Nick for short) and that he loves dogs. Eva, who is extremely 'alpha' (dominant) by nature and barks explosively at most other dogs (and rabbits and coyotes and road-runners) and at some of the cars and bikes we encounter remained surprisingly quite calm. She and Nick even gently nuzzled noses without a sound.

It was pleasant indeed to walk the two and a half miles with such amiable companions.

All in all, I'd be safe to say that I am enjoying my stay here in Mike and JoAnn's Tucson home.

Enjoying it immensely.

My 2010 Easter Parade

Easter Sunday I went out again for a long walk in the Arizona sunshine; following a beaten-sand pathway along a low traffic road. On a previous day there had been a lady leading a white horse down that path.

I saw no horseback riders this time though, along the path to the

Agua Caliente Wash

Two rabbits were foraging among the desert scrub and a large hawk was patrolling the area in the blue sky overhead. It took no notice of the bunnies, though. Not at that moment, anyway. Nor did I. Who would want to see a photo of wild rabbits in the desert? And that hawk circling in the sky was much too high for my little Nikon.

Although I've been in Arizona for two full weeks now, I've still seen no wild coyotes yet. Sure have heard lots of them though, howling in the night and stirring up all the dogs in region. I am constantly on the lookout.

Even though I saw no horses or riders that Easter day, I had suspicions that they had been there recently.