April 27, 2005
Had a catscan at seven this morning. The usual fasting, and getting down there an hour early (without coffee!). After three MRIs, a catscan seems almost like a drive-thru procedure, but for all you kids out there, enjoy youth while you can because after 55, people start poking you, and I hear tell it doesn't stop until they close the lid.

Treated myself to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe on Shea. Had the Monterey omelette, OJ and coffee ($14.65, includes tip). Got a call in the middle of breakfast from Cousin Eddy, who wanted to chat about his radio show. Went out of my way to talk soft (I hate cell phone talkers in public places yelling, and in fact the only thing that makes me madder is a person in a car, making a traffic turn, coming right at me, with one hand on the wheel and the other with a cell phone up to the ear!).

Saw a funny bumper sticker: "The driver is carrying no cash. His daughter goes to Xavier."(a private Catholic school in Phoenix)

Went by the bank and straightened out my bank account. In the meantime, someone forged a check using our TW business account number and Carole had to go down and close the account, get new checks, notify all our clients. Really a pain. It appears from the forged check that they just wrote down some random numbers and got ours. Still, it's costly and unnerving.

Got back into the office at nine. Worked on filling holes in CGII. Plugged in George Parsons copy on the 1881 Tombstone fire. Did six sketches of cow-boys on horseback. Getting the scale better between horse and rider.

Mike Melrose and I went to lunch at El Encanto. Beautiful day out, so we sat out by the pond. We went dutch ($8 cash) and I had the albondigas soup and a flour tortilla. Talked mostly about sports and the Suns' chances. Then we went over to the new Cave Creek shopping center next door and looked at all the shops, including our old neighbor Paul and his Western store. Mike bought a shirt. We talked about styles and trends. Everything is quite retro with saw tooth pockets and snap buttons.

Allen Fossenkemper's tribute to True West at the River of Time Museum in Fountain Hills is up until July. He really did a great job. More details to come.

Our office copies of the June issue arrived after lunch. Abby sure did a great job on that cover (Jesus Out West).

Worked until after six. Kathy wants me to go to Yoga tonight, but I think I'll pass. Too healthy.

"A yawn is nature's way of giving the person listening to a bore an opportunity to open his mouth."
—Henny Youngman