What's on tap for today?

Here's just a quick update on the wild things happening here in the Williams campground and cigar emporium.

We are fast approaching my favorite time of year. We are still in mid-September, but Christmas will be here in a week and a half. No kidding. Costco has had their decorations up since August beaten only by Walgreens, which had theirs available since July. I like this time of year because, yeah, yeah, yeah, the holidays. No, they bring stress and poor judgement. I'm talking about the weather changing.

It is mid-September and today its going to be 108. Yep, that's what I said. I was talking to my boy on Facebook today. He is in the beautiful Middle East and he didn't think they were going to be that hot. The nights cool though. That's a good thing. You hate going to bed and waking up hours later and its hotter before dawn than most countries have for a high for the year.

Teaching is still teaching. Kids in school come in all shapes and sizes. Their problems float between acne and being deported, parent (most only have one) dying or going to prison, and what they don't have to eat.

The politics this time of year is great!! You have two candidates saying, in many cases, the exact opposite. Sooommmmeeeeeboddddy's lying!!!

We have three grand kids now. That makes me a true Grandfather. Now, don't get me wrong. You can be a grandfather with one grandchild. You're official. But, your not a Big Kahuna Grandfather, with a capital G, until you have at least 2. That way, no one can say the first one was just and accident.

Maybe a nap is in order today? I need to sleep on that.

Oh, need to check the transmission fluid in the truck. I think its leaking. Maybe need to add some.

When was the last time you had fried chicken? Doesn't that sound good-with homemade mashed potatoes. Yum.

Okay, look. There isn't much time left in today. In a while, I will need to start getting ready for work for tomorrow, laying out clothes, packing my lunch. Crap. BUT, I do have a job, my family is healthy and so far, Travis hasn't had to shoot anyone. So, I guess this is a banner day. We will take what we can get.

Now, what chair do I want that nap in??

Whoa Nellie!

We spent the night with some dear friends up at their home on the western end of Flagstaff this Labor Day weekend. Nice house, modern; not a 'cabin' one would think of for the woods. It had everything you wanted in a weekend respite.

The four of us walked around the downtown area, the two men following the women in front of us. I could feel my blood pressure drop, kicking my brain into neutral and allowing the coolish air to remind me that living in a convection oven most of the year was an anomaly and most places, just a few hours away, were not like that.

Then, I heard it. The train.

Every day, several times a day, trains pass through downtown Flagstaff on their way back and forth across the nation. And I mean BIG trains, lots of cars, carrying Aunt Millie's refrigerator and your sister-in-law's new car. They blew through town like they were on their way to a chrysanthemum convention in Long Beach.

It was funny, I love that sound-the sound of that huge piece of machinery running through town. You never heard a whistle; you didn't need to. The rumbling of it was enough to tell anyone to get the hell out of the way. Where ever you were in Flagstaff, you could tell a train was coming. Eventually, you stop hearing it. Oh, but at night, I found that was the sweetest time.

Just before I started my coma cycle, I got into bed with my book. This is my favorite time of day. Cool sheets, comfortable pillow, a book with a nice story, ahhhhh, I'm there now! But at this home, you could open the windows. Now, for those of you getting this who do not live in Phoenix, let me explain something. You don't open your windows in Phoenix in the summer time which, of course, goes from March to October. You definitely don't open them in July or August or the shoulder weeks on either side. You will wake up dead from dehydration. Someone will come into your room in the morning and there you are, looking like a dried piece of apple. So, opening the windows and letting fresh, cool, mountain air in was like the foyer to heaven. That, and my bookie time, I was two steps away from Nirvana.

After about three minutes of solid reading, my eyes crossed and I turned out the light, getting into my PSP (Perfect Sleeping Position-years of research have helped me find and patent this).

In about two minutes I was on my way to Never Never Land. Then I heard it.

The 10:05 from Muncey to LA was passing through town.

It started off a subtle rumble and it grew. I found myself loving it. Like thunder, I love the sounds outside. Wind, rain, thunder, locomotives, all of it massaged my brain. I pictured, oh so briefly, the engineer in the front engine looking out the window into the darkness that made up the woodlands of northern Arizona. He would be making sure that all the lights were green, showing he was clear ahead, knowing that if anything was in the way, there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it. So, he opened the throttle a little more, once he cleared the heart of the town. Five hours later, I awoke to the edge of consciousness to hear another train, then drifted off again, a smile on my face.

Funny how things affect us. Some people would no more be able to sleep than I could stay awake to that sound. I think today, I'm going shopping. Need to price one of those train sets that circled the base of my Christmas tree when I was a kid. Maybe an engineer's hat as well.