Why We Celebrate

Fireworks, burgers, dogs, the beach and parades are all great fun and a joy to take part in, because we can.

We celebrate today because we have:

The Declaration of Independace
The Constitution of the United States
The Bill of Rights

We have men and women who have died to preserve and defend these rights.

I was speaking to a guest at the restaurant Sunday morning. His accent suggested that his country of origin was probably Eastern Bloc.  I asked him how his Sunday was going, his reply,

"It's great to wake up in a country where you are free," a direct quote from a grateful man.

Let's all celebrate and be thankful.

Happy 4th of July

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/

Thanksgiving break is over, as well as Christmas break and spring break as well as writers block break.

Summer is here! Fun facts about summer in Arizona:

You cannot fry eggs on the sidewalk, been tried, makes a mess

You can leave a cool cup of coffee in your car in the morning and in the afternoon it is too hot to drink.

I’m pretty sure you can also brew tea in the car.

It can get too hot to go swimming in the afternoon.

June 26, 1990, it was 122 degrees, the airport had to shut down, they didn’t have takeoff and landing information for that intense heat, the air thins and aircraft need more runway I walked outside, said “damn, it’s hot,” and came back inside.

There is the famous, “but it’s a dry heat!” so is a convection oven.

It’s the monsoon season, which brings incredible storms to the valley.  There’s nothing quite like looking out the window and watching a wall of dust, as high as you can see, obliterating the sky! Looking out our back door, first Camelback Mountain is engulfed and disappears in a wall of dirty brown, next Mummy Mountain vanishes as well. At that point, we are about 5 minutes away from the wall.

Palm trees bend, the light gets an odd brown tint due to the dust, patio furniture takes on a life of it’s own, (reminiscent of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice for you Disney Fans), some It taking a dip in the pool and the storm starts in earnest.

Now the wind really picks up, lightning is flashing and thunder is roaring and a torrential rain starts. Last year in the middle of this we were out front, mid-calf high water rushing down the street clearing out storm drains, news chopper overhead and cars going down the street drenching us further with boat size wakes. I thought for sure they would have understood my simple sign language.

Ten minutes later it’s over, the sun comes out and the famous “dry” heat magically transforms to humid, soaking, jungle like heat, 95 degrees, 80% humidity. 

Out back the crystal clear pool now looks like the muddy Mississippi, I swear I’ve seen catfish there following these storms, and I know the patio chairs are in there somewhere, but I’m not going in now. 

But it is magical here in the summer.

By the way, the book is finally started!

Ah,  Thanksgiving, the official beginning of the Holiday season will be here in a flash.  A lot of families have holiday traditions they hold close to their hearts. One holiday tradition is what we will be looking at, after a detour of sorts.

 Here, at the McVeigh residence Thanksgiving is more of a “I wonder what in the world is going to happen this year?”  A quick review will sum it up. 

There was the Thanksgiving a ways back when I was working at the Carefree Inn and nearly forgot to cook the pumpkin pies for the Grand Holiday Buffett.  Fortunately for my career and about 600 guests I did remember about them on the way home. Dutifully I returned to the hotel and completed my task, as the morning crew was walking in. 

Another year, my wife and I spent our first Thanksgiving at home. That was the year of my father getting sick, driving Mom and Dad back out to Sun City West. To make the day more joyful the septic system backed up into the house. Then the septic pumping truck broke down and had to get towed out of the yard, while waiting for another truck to come out. However, we did enjoy our Thanksgiving dinner with the young man who was sent out to help. It was his first Thanksgiving in Arizona.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I returned home from working the day after Thanksgiving and noticed a couple of our oven mitts and a kitchen towel quite singed and draped over a lounge chair. Thankfully they were caught in time by our guests and rushed outside. Spontaneous combustion?  I don’t know….

Tuesday morning was spent tooling about picking up last minute supplies for Turkey day. After a fast-paced morning of running around I decided to treat myself to a burger. About halfway through I felt something odd in my mouth. After a close inspection, I was able to feel that my bridge was a little loose, just what I needed before a holiday weekend. A few more bites and the something odd feeling in my mouth suddenly felt way past odd.  Another close inspection showed that my loose bridge was now my missing bridge. And, there was only one place it could be at this point in time. Yep, I swallowed it. Right now you’re probably saying the same thing my dentist did when I called. Having the greatest dentist in the world (Dr. Alan Katz, Scottsdale, if you need one), they got me in and set me up with a temporary bridge.

Which brings me to Thanksgiving traditions. This year, when the meal is finished, I am going to retreat to my office for approximately 20 minutes. There, I will uphold an age-old Holiday Tradition. I will put “Alice’s Restaurant” on, the way it is supposed to be. On vinyl, on a turntable, on Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Back.  It’s that simple. No explanations and no apologies, just some encouragement from friends.

I jumped in the pool last week, which is quite unusual considering it was the last week of October, not usually swimming weather. To be honest I didn’t swim, I jumped in, said “there, I did it” and got back out. This bookends nicely with the last blog on snowshoeing.  Cold, and cold, with a typical hot Arizona summer in between. 

 Quite a bit did go on between those dates.  Glen Frey and David Bowie both died, The Olympics went on as scheduled in spite of all the dire warnings, Queen Elizabeth turned 90 , Groundhog Day (always one of my favorites), there was a big concert in the desert with great old bands playing at it (One of my favorite T-Shirts, I may be old but I got to see all the cool bands), the Cubs WON  the World Series, and, this is not Sci-Fi, but either Donald Trump, or Hillary Clinton will become President of the United States, wonderful, the choice between either a megalomaniac or a pathological liar.

And you know what the big news is today?  People are “upset” about the Starbucks Green Holiday (they don’t have the cajones to call it a Christmas) Cup.  I’m serious, check out the news. This is what the American Public is upset about.  Not Obama Care which is proving to be more of a mess than anyone imagined, not the upcoming election, not immigration, the economy or the out of control Federal Government, but a f*#@*ng Starbucks Cup.

The good news is, Dutch Brothers is doing a gangbusters business in Arizona. Very good news.

Happy Election Day