January 24, 2004
Still soggy and rainy out. Built a fire in the pot-bellied stove and started cleaning.

Went into Phoenix yesterday to drop off the cover scratchboards and layouts to Dan H. Gave him three riders and six maniac faces. Told him the dilemma we face (compelling, edgy cover vs. institutional travel issue). Hope he can thread the needle.

Picked up the Spanish rodeo posters at Ed Mell’s studio. Kenny photographed them into transparencies ($105 biz account). Met Theresa from Tri Star and signed another three boxes of Classic Gunfights books. From there drove the posters out to Michael Feldman’s frame shop in Scottsdale Airpark. They are big suckers, going to be pricey to frame: the biggest one is 58”X78” and that’s unframed. I need to measure the biggest wall in the dining room to see if two will even fit there. May have to build another house.

Sure.

Stopped at El Conquistador for lunch. Had the mole enchiladas and an iced tea.($15 cash, includes tip). Bush came in to Phoenix Wednesday and had enchiladas at the Tee Pee Taproom. The economy is improving. Coincidence? I think not.

I was a guest on a Canadian travel radio show this morning at the Carefree Conference Resort. We broadcast live from one of the casitas. They are a syndicated show (30 stations, mostly in the northeast and Canada). Vic, one of the hosts, claimed it’s 34 below zero in Toronto today. Had fun. When they asked me what kind of animals they heard last night outside their door, squealing and yipping, I told them they were Democrats fleeing Iowa. When they asked me what kind of wild characters there are still roaming around Carefree I told them that would be “drug dealers.” The Corporate Director of Public Relations for Tiburon Hospitality and the Executive Director of the Carefree-Cave Creek Chamber of Commerce looked less than pleased and had to do “damage control,” and they really earned their money. I begged off having breakfast with them afterwards, but my ears were burning, if you know what I mean and I think you do.

Fred Nolan flew out of London yesterday bound for the showdown at Silver City, NM next tuesday over digging up Billy’s mom. Unfortunately, as Fred cleared Newfoundland (I’m guessing, it’s a nine hour flight), the judge issued a continuance. Fred landed in Albuquerque last night and I left a message for him at his hotel , but we missed (he called me back this morning while I was on the air).

On a related note, Jana nailed the death date of Mrs. Garrett as 1936. If you read my piece in the Arizona Republic, you know that Homer Overton is claiming Apolonaria confessed to him her husband and Billy the Kid killed a drunk and buried him as the Kid. Homer was born in 1930 and would have been six when his source died. Very unlikely.

“If I want your opinion I'll beat it out of you.”
—Chuck Norris